. May 94 AJWP-1: The Academy of Jerusalem Working Paper #1 RHJNew.

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REALIZING
The HEAVENLY
JERUSALEM
.(Yitzhak I. Hayutman, B.Arch, M.CRP, Ph.D (Cybernetics
Abstract
The issues of the Middle East conflict are complex and psychologically
loaded, pertaining to questions of identities. They include questions of the
future of Zionism, which has become ossified in a political mold (sec. 2.1).
The complexities of Israeli society are connected to major world divisions
and its own divisions can be exacerbated, rather than relieved, by a partial
peace process (sec. 2.2). Examining peacemaking, we can distinguish
between piecemeal peace, concerned only with political factors and
territorial issues (sec. 3.1) and comprehensive or "Holistic Peace" concerned
also with cultural issues and encompassing psychological and cultural
change, in other terms with "Human Recon-struction" (sec. 3.2). Examining
the possible means for such peace making, we examine various forms of
Conversion (sec. 3.3) and techniques of Conversation that build
understandings (sec. 3.4), drawing implications from the cybernetic
.Conversation Theory
By exploring the implications of the symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem
in relation to Zionism (sec. 4) we come to the possibility of redefining
Zionism as the movement for the Actualization of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The history, and potency, of this symbol is presented in twelve "gates" or
stages from Genesis to our times (sec. 4.1 - 4.12). Utilizing some Kabbalistic
and cybernetic insights, the "Heavenly City" is then defined as the "City of
.(Understandings" (sec. 5
Following the Psalmist's description of the pilgrim's aim, the
implications of the symbol are defined in terms of the ideals of learning,
peace, civilization and systemic comprehension of the world (sec. 6). These
ideals, in turn, are applied to some concrete problems of the Middle East and
to placing Zionism in a universal context (sec. 7). An illustration of a
possible old-new mythology, based on the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
is then drawn (sec. 8), leading to a "redemptive scenario" that illustrates how
the problems of Israel could be solved by a new enlightened Zionism
aspiring for the Heavenly Jerusalem (sec. 9). (There is a detailed list of
.(contents at the end of the paper
 Page CONTENTS:
1 Abstract.
1 Acknowledgment
2 Introduction. .1
2 The Problem. .2
3 Mental Conflict and Identity Crises. 2.1
5 Complexity and Interdependence. 2.2
6 Peace-Making and Human Reconstruction. .3
6 Piecemeal Peace-Making in the Middle East. 3.1
7 Comprehensive Peace, Holistic Peace and Healing. 3.2
7 Conversion. 3.3
7 Conversion - The Jews. .3.3.1
8 Counter-Conversion - The Palestinians. .3.3.2
9 Double Conversion and "Passing Over". - 3.3.3
10 Conversation. - 3.4
Conversational Methodologies and Conversation Theory.10 - 3.4.1
Ideological Reorientation and Symbolic Construction. 12 - 3.4.2
.12 3.4.3 - Conversation-supporting Environments.
13 Heavenly Jerusalem and the Old-New Zion. .4
14 4.1. Heavenly Jerusalem and the story of Genesis.
15 4.2. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Kingdom of David.
15 4.3. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Prophets.
15 Heavenly Jerusalem and the Second Temple. .4.4
16 4.5. Heavenly Jerusalem and Early Christianity.
17 4.6. Heavenly Jerusalem in the Talmud.
17 4.7. Heavenly Jerusalem and Islam.
18 Heavenly Jerusalem and the Kabbalah. .4.8
19 4.9. Heavenly Jerusalem and Shambhala.
19 Heavenly Jerusalem and Marxism. .4.10
20 4.11. Heavenly Jerusalem in early Modern Zionism.
22 4.12. Heavenly Jerusalem, Holism and the Whole Earth.
24 The New Heavenly Jerusalem - Heaven, Havannah and Bniyah. .5
25 The Heavenly Jerusalem and Future Zionism. .6
26 The Heavenly Orientation and Aliyah. 6.1
6.2 (Torah & Shalem) Teaching wholeness - A New Torah from Zion. 27
27 Shalom, Bniyah & Havannah) - Building Bridges to Peace.) 6.3
28 Bniyah & Ir) - City Building and Urban Living.) 6.4
29 6.5 (Hibur & Yahad) joining together - Mosaic Patterns.
29 Consequent Implications of the symbols. .7
Teaching Wholeness & City Building) - Designing Civilization. 30) 7.1
 Building Bridges to Peace & Joining Together) - Encouraging Federalism. 30) 7.2
City Building and Urban Living & Joining Together) - The Earthly Jerusalem.31) 7.3
31 Yahadut & Teaching Wholeness) Israel and the World.) 7.4
38 References.
39 Notes.

32 Appendix "A". A Future Mythology.

32 The meta-historical frame. 1
32 The Drama. 2
33 The Dramatic Characters. 3
33 The Jerusalem Global Stages. 4
34 Concerns: The Crises and the Christalization. 5
34 The Palestinian special concern of the Messaye'a. 6
35 The Jerusalem Dramatization. 7
35 The Twin gates 8
35 The Yishmael/El HEJERA Gate. 8.1
36 The Yitzhak Gate. 8.2
Epilogue 9
36 Appendix "B" - A Redemptive Scenario for the HEJERA
36 The HEJERA Design. 1
37 The New Jerusalem in Action. 2

Appendix "C" - Conversation Theory. 41

Acknowledgment:
The initial insight for this essay came from a book by John Michell, and it was his
positive response to the first and later versions that encouraged me to continue through many
revisions and improvements. Indirectly, this work was much inspired by my two great
teachers, Buckminster Fuller and cybernetician Gordon Pask.
Many friends helped through the many versions, notably Prof. Joseph Ben-Dak (who
commissioned the original paper), Dr. Morgan Thomas and Dr. Itil Asmon. Thorough
editorial help was given, in earlier stages, by David Justman and by Elizabeth Pask. This final
version was edited, improved while also translated to Hebrew by Tirtsa Arzi. I thank them all
and take the sole responsibility for the remaining obscurities, which would have been tenfold
if not for their kind help.
1. Introduction.
This paper is a revision of a paper presented at an International Workshop on "Peace
Thinking and the Middle East Conflict" held at the University of Haifa, 19-24 June 1978
(between the Sadat visit and the conclusion of the protracted peace process with Egypt). The
original paper set forth proposals for the ideological reorientations necessary for securing
peace in the Middle East, together with a methodology for achieving these reorientations. The
approach advocated is cultural rather than political. This has become even more pertinent now
that the agreement with the Palestinians has been signed, thus concluding the Camp David
accord. Now that the political process has entailed most of what would be expected of it, it is
becoming more apparent that the cultural problems have not been resolved.
An equally grave issue is the survival of Zionism, and of ideology altogether, among
Israeli Jews - because this is the ultimate question of Israel's survival. The military and
political struggle against the Arabs, and with it the difficulty for winning recognition for
Israel worldwide, has ossified Zionist thinking and tied it to the narrow mold of "Political
Zionism" which the current conclusion of the political process has made no longer relevant.
Yet while Zionism has become ossified through the Arab-Israeli struggle, the world has
changed greatly. Communism has disappeared, religious fundamentalism has increased,
nationalism has revived in a threatening way, and the ecological threat has grown, stimulating
a new world ideology, combined, in the more affluent places, with a "New Age" ideology.
This paper shows that all these developments have a profound meaning for Zionism, calling
for a new type of "Cultural Zionism" (literally, "Spiritual Zionism") which can bring a new
age for Zionism as a leading global ideology.
Also unresolved is the problem of Jerusalem, and this problem is likely to increase,
becoming the tinder box that may explode and shatter the fragile peace agreements. In the
current step-by-step, piecemeal, peace process, Jerusalem has been left as the last issue. Our
holistic approach takes Jerusalem as the starting point and elevates her to be the kingpin of
Zionism as a global ideology.

2. The Problem.
It is an old and ongoing debate whether the Arab-Israeli conflict is essentially territorial
or religious and cultural-psychological. Rationalists portray it as a mere territorial struggle to
which "land for peace" transactions can bring a settlement. (This position implies not just that
people are more important than land but often that land issues/fixations are old-fashioned, fit
only for "backward" people like Arabs or religious-"messianic" eccentrics).
But the issues are never separate. For example, the late Anwar Sadat, who repeatedly
stated that the problems of the Middle East conflict are "70% psychological", has regained
100% of the Sinai by asserting that "every inch of the Sinai is sacred".
The issue of land sanctity, which was weak in the expanses of Sinai, strengthens in the
area of "the territories" and is becoming focused in Jerusalem. This issue will have to be
admitted both in inner Israeli debate and in international negotiations. It will become apparent
that symbolic factors are as important as economic or territorial factors and, hence, that there
will be need for symbolic transactions and construction, and even ideological reorientations,
for the resolution of the conflict.
It is also possible, even common, to recognize cultural or psychological issues, but to
advocate separation of the "rational" and "emotional" (or "mythological") sides of individuals
or nations and between them. Even scientists commonly divide the psychological factors into
mutually exclusive cognitive and affective domains. In our view, it would be more useful to
use a system-theoretic perspective (i.e. Conversation Theory) which views the psychological
field as made of interdependent systems of (syntactic) concepts, controlled by (semantic)
social memories, which are themselves controlled by perspectives of identities, and which can
all get changed through structured conversation (see sec. 3.4.1). We can then discuss
problems of rationality and of identities as being not mutually exclusive but complementary.
When we say that the conflict is too complex or irrational, this may mean that from the level
that we are compelled (even by ourselves) to look at it, we find ourselves incapable of seeing
solutions, or even of viewing the problem as a whole. The point is that we are not detached
observers; we actually identify with some party to the problem. This identification keeps us at
a level in which no meta-systemic observations are possible and an overall perspective cannot
be gained.

2.1 Mental Conflict and Identity Crises.

In a classical essay on inter-human contact, Buber (1957) showed that two individuals
who meet are surrounded by six "specters": 1) the image of Shim'on in the eyes of Levi, 2)
Levi's self-image which he wants Shim'on to have of him, and 3) the image that Levi assumes
that Shim'on has of him. And there are three more such in Shim'on's mind. Let us call the
figures Ishmael and Israel, or "Israeli" and "Palestinian", they are still separated by these six
specters. A conflict arises when two of the images held by the two sides are seen as
contradictory or even mutually-negating. There are people and groups that cannot properly
define their own group identify, and thus themselves, except through the negation of others
(by negating the labels that have been placed on the images of other groups). Each assumed
character is a threat to the integrity of the other assumed character.
It is known, for example, that Jews, Israel, and especially Zionism are still portrayed,
even in Egypt and certainly where Iranian or Iraqi influence is strong, as inherently evil and
even devilish. The peace with Egypt, achieved by a territorial deal, has proved to be "a cold
peace". Meanwhile the inner Arab conflict between secularism and "fundamentalism" turns
the Arab struggle with Israel increasingly into a religious war of Islam against Judaism which,
it is claimed, requires the eradication of Zionism and of Jewish sovereignty in order to save
Islam.
It should be realized that the identities of Israelis, and especially of the Palestinians, are
actually threatened with the conclusion of their agreement. The self-image (the identity) of the
Palestinians is especially fragile as it has been defined in terms of the struggle with Israel and
with Zionism. When they come to accept the legitimacy of Israel, their own shaky self-
identity may come into question. A Palestinian State or other entity may thus tend to keep
opposing Israel in order to maintain its own social cohesion.
The continuation of the current political process is likely to produce a crisis within the
two conflicting schools of Zionism which were active in the last two decades - not just in the
"settlement camp" on the right but also in the "peace camp" on the left 1, whose positions are
now outmoded. Meanwhile, their past mutual recriminations, as they continue, threaten to
explode and break Israeli solidarity.
The integration of the culturally separate Israeli Jewish groups has not always been
strengthened by the outside threat (as sometimes claimed), and can be damaged by threats
from the outside and the images put on them by other nations (see next section). If, for
example, the perceived threat is from Islamic fundamentalism, then the Israelis prefer a
secular, western, liberal self-image, and the religious and fundamentalist tendencies within the
nation are rejected to the point of national schism.
For many Israelis, the Zionist ideology and identity are increasingly problematic. This is
partly because they have become a liability in the eyes of the world. In the Arab world, the
Moslem countries and many third world countries, and also among leftist groups in Europe,
the label "Zionism" is derogatory. Zionism is seen as a discriminatory and exploitative
practice. It has been lumped with such hated labels as colonialism and racism, and even the
UN used to ratify this libel.
Modern sociology has offered a "labelling theory" (Gove, 1975) of deviance, focusing on
the interaction of those who label deviations and those who are labeled as deviant. This theory
is related to the cybernetic concept of feedback, and makes deviance an instance of the more
general systemic notion of a "trapping state" 2, a notion used also in psychology to explain
schizogenesis. It is apparently also possible for social, collective, entities to fall into a
trapping state, which can cause deviance or disintegration.
In as much as Zionism created Israeli society and has held it together, the question of its
survival is bound up with the ultimate question of Israel's survival.
The hundred years of struggle with the Arabs have tended to freeze the Zionist vision.
Though the overt goal of Zionism - the Jewish State - has been achieved, hardly anyone has
realized that this calls for renewing the Zionist vision. This is largely because the military and
political struggle against the Arabs, and with it the difficulty for winning recognition for
Israel worldwide, has ossified Zionist thinking and tied it to the narrow mold of "Political
Zionism", which is now clearly becoming obsolete. Historical processes have narrowed the
ideals of modern Zionism, and the former dreams of Ahad Ha'am, Pinsker, the Rav Kuk, A.
D. Gordon and many others have been pushed away. After forty five years, the state has
neither reformulated nor reflected upon the ideals of Zionism. For many who are nominally
Zionist, the word Zionism has lost its meaning. The old symbols and goals - the Jewish State,
the return to the soil, the romance of small agricultural communities, etc. - have become
obsolete. We have the Jewish State, full of problems and in fact highly urbanized. The more
religious aspects of Zionism are on the upsurge, but it seems clear that the nation is not going
to embrace the Halacha as its way of life, and the settlement of the land as a combined
religious-Zionist mission has now been blocked.

(There has also been some upsurge in secular Zionism, brought about by the attacks on
Zionism from outsiders. The defence of Zionism has taken the form of re-adoption of
traditional Zionist settlement practices, as well as a flight into the perception of inevitable
persecution of Jews by the outside world. These two tendencies were originally contradictory,
but now, however, they may combine in a self-destructive trapping state. In this state Zionism
becomes backward-oriented, losing touch with global concerns and the spiritual movements
of the end of the twentieth century.)

2.2 Complexity and Interdependence.

 The complexity is exacerbated in that the conflict with the Arabs (which is becoming
increasingly a religious conflict), is connected with inner Israeli conflicts. Formerly it might
have helped the integration of the very complex and diverse Israeli Jewish population. Israeli
Jewish society is divided by the hundred or more lands of origin that contributed to the return
to Zion, and in general divided between Western, or "Ashkenazi" Jews and Oriental, or
"Sephardi" Jews 3. Thereby the differences and conflicts of "the West" versus "the East" (but
actually the South) which are splitting the whole world, are strongly represented within Israeli
society.
Another major division of the Israeli Jewish population is between secular and religious
Israelis, and this is connected to the complexities of relations with other nations, Western
countries on the one hand and the Arabs on the other. The conflict of traditional religious with
secular technological society is very critical in the Middle East. Secularity is prevalent in this
century in traditionally Christian countries. Traditionally Moslem countries are still very
much Moslem countries. It is also hardly noticed by secular Western Israelis that the Western
countries are still religiously Christian, and possibly increasingly so, and this trend may
influence their connections with the Jews of Israel.
Traditional diaspora Judaism lived on the Talmud and related but slightly to the Bible.
Jewish return to Israel brought a resurgence of the Bible by both secular Israeli Jewish society
(for whom the Bible is the only Jewish scriptures they know) and religious Jews (esp. Gush
Emunim). This allows a connection with the Bible-based Christian Fundamentalist resurgence
and may have effects on Israeli religious and political affairs.
Overriding the divisions among Jews is the major division of Israeli society - between
Jews and Arab. To this there are further subdivisions involving the Arabs who are Israeli
citizens (and who can vote to the Knesset) who are a clear minority, the Arabs of Israeli
Jerusalem who have some rights (including barely-used municipal vote but no vote to the
Knesset) and the Arabs under military rule. This mold is now likely to change, not least by
Israeli Arab votes which helped to make the agreement with the Palestinians. Following this
agreement, it is likely that the questions of Jewish-Arab relations will come into the open.
In fact, the Arab Israelis have been relatively "invisible men" in Israeli society, while the
Palestinian movement has become a shadow of Zionism, following it with a considerable time
lag. But it has also become an invisible shadow entity over Jewish-Israeli identity. So, to use
psychological terms, the agreement with the Palestinians, with the need to negotiate their
status and thus to redefine their identity in Israeli eyes, is a confrontation with one's shadow,
which is likely to bring crisis - but possibly also the onset of healing.
In short, the inner divisions of Israeli society are intimately connected with major world
divisions and problems in complex ways. Containing representatives of almost all humankind,
Israel draws upon itself the conflicts of the world. Thus the "peace agreements" may result in
more strains and differences within Israeli society and even in identity crises for both Jews
and Arabs.
The consequence is that the Middle East conflict appears to be too complex for the
cognitive capacities of the parties involved in it. Most people demand clear symbols to
identify with and simplistic heroand-villain formulations of their problems. Such formulations
must be opposed if one seriously desires conflict-resolution, and they makes it difficult for the
experts and scholars who analyze the problem to come up with agreed solutions which will
satisfy the minds of those involved in the problem.
 Cyberneticians show that the Law of Requisite Variety 4 (Ashby, 1956) posits that
complex problems demand equally complex solutions, and also that the appropriate solutions
must be formulated in a symbolic meta-language. Jerusalem, which is discussed at length
below as an appropriate solution to the problem (a problem which is also centered upon
Jerusalem) is a meta-language symbol par-excellence. The very complexity of Jerusalem, both
as problem and as solution, ensures that our values and ideals will be associated not with a
paradise-like simplicity but with the actual complexity of this city. Significantly, this
symbolic Jerusalem is traditionally associated with learning and understanding, two skills
required for the handling of complex situations.

3. Peace-Making and Human Reconstruction.

The original study was for a conference on "Peace Thinking", and it is proper to think
here fully what are peace and peace-thinking, and to examine what is peace of mind on the
level of nations and cultures. We can readily appreciate that the very word used in different
languages carry different meanings. The English word "Peace" is a homonym of "Piece" and
is more likely to be associated with a piecemeal approach of peacemaking and to regarding
peace as merely the cessation of hostilities (what some term "negative peace"). The Semitic
words "Shalom" and "Salaam", on the other hand, have the connotations of "whole" (shalem
in Hebrew) and of contact with the holy (as in the Arabic word "Islam" connoting the
religious ideal of alignment with the divine will). We are speaking here of "positive peace",
politically it has been sloganized to "comprehensive peace", but in light of the semantic
insights above we may also call it "holistic peace".

3.1 Piecemeal Peace-Making in the Middle East.

The partial or piecemeal approach for peace-making was forcefully introduced to the
Middle East by Henry Kissinger with the interim agreements between Israel and Egypt and
Syria. Being both a statesman and an academician, Kissinger had the justification, by theory
and by results, for his piecemeal peacemaking approach. This is the approach that passes
under the more dignified name of "the rational approach". In practice it tries to avoid the
tangled issues of culture, ideology or religion and to isolate areas where bargaining can take
place and obvious interests can be reconciled. Though hated by the ideologues of the various
parties, it brought results and set the stage for the further, and more comprehensive, Camp
David accord.
Yet this approach has not changed the cultural attitudes and even the greatest
achievement, the Camp David accord (which was far more comprehensive than the Kissinger
agreements) brought but a "cold peace" between Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile the growing
religious fundamentalism, which the piecemeal approach has no answer to, has increased the
hatred and the conflict. And while the "peacemeal" approach can be likened to mine
clearance, to isolating pressing dangers and neutralizing them, it does not appear effective
against systemic syndromes, against the formation of trapping states through a complex of
factors of various types, including psychological, cultural and religious factors.

3.2 Comprehensive Peace, Holistic Peace and Healing.

 The term "Comprehensive Peace" is much used in discussions of the Middle East as the
contrast to piecemeal peace. But it is used only in the political sense of all the Arab parties
dealing with Israel at once (which makes it practically almost impossible), rather than by
interim agreements. It does not comprehend the psychological, cultural and religious aspects
of peace and not even the intrinsic meaning of "comprehensive" in the sense of "involving
comprehension", namely understanding. So to signify the inclusion of these factors, including
the very issue of understanding, I prefer to use the term "Holistic Peace". "Holistic Peace"
entails the Semitic-semantic consideration above to mean the "Shalom" or "Salaam" that
people aspire to as an ideal, rather than a peace as a grim necessity just to stop the worst
horrors. "Holistic" connotes visions of wholeness, even holiness, and also health and healing.
There is a current intellectual revulsion from such idealism (including utopias, ideologies
and "myths") issuing from the disasters of Nazism and communism. But other new
intellectual developments (see sec. 5) view holism as a feasible and necessary. We shall try
here to present approaches that avoid naivety and view wholes as complex rather than unitary
entities, applying to processes and not just to static pictures. So we shall discuss healing
processes and "Redemptive Scenarios" and treat the question of actualizing utopia, as
reflected in the name "Realizing the Heavenly Jerusalem".
The main issues in this approach would entail inducing psychological change (both
cognitive and emotional) and the diffusion of the new images throughout societies. We may
term a scientific approach to these issues as "Human Reconstruction" (Khayutman, 1981),
which applies concepts from personal therapy to public and social issues.
Psychology knows two ways of release from mental (& cultural) trapping states, which
may be conveniently termed: a) "Conversion"; and b) "Conversation". In the following we
shall discuss the forms and implications of the two options as they apply to social entities in
general and to Arabs and Israelis in particular.

3.3 Conversion.
In the distant past, religious conversion was often pushed by the changing masters of this
land 5, but at present religious conversion is a fairly rare, made mostly by individuals who
choose this move carefully. But the term may apply also to change of ethnic or ideological
identity. Many antagonists of Zionism called for "dezionization" of the State of Israel, which
is a sort of conversion. This possibility tends to be disregarded, for it is against the rules of the
game. Yet underlying the thesis of dezionization is the realization that ideology and symbols
are crucial, that they affect even the most pragmatic leaders. Thus the concept of conversion
can be appreciated as an experience that entails both renunciation and affirmation, which can
exercise and enliven values and beliefs which are often forgotten or taken for granted in
everyday life.

3.3.1. The Conversion of the Jews.

Various antagonists of Zionism, both the extremely secular and orthodox Jews, used to
claim that the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict will only come about through the so-
called "dezionization" of the State of Israel (e.g. Avnery, 1968). However, the "dezionization
strategy" may be both impractical and undesirable. It may be impractical partly because Jews
have a singularly long tradition of resisting conversion, into or especially out of their group,
and the expression above is an old Christian expression for a vain hope. The famous Jewish
stiff-neckedness, resilience and resistance to conversion are explicable by the great coherence
of the traditional living-and-belief system, which also entailed the Jews' conviction that their
distinct survival has an ultimate importance for the entire world. European Judaism, which
has historically weakened with increasing secularization, has subsequently been strengthened
by Zionism. Jews have converted from orthodox Judaism to Zionism rather than to
Christianity or to assimilation in gentile society. As some Israelis have pointed out (e.g. Elam,
1977) Zionism has become our method of retaining Jewishness independent of religious
traditions. Similarly, many Israelis still feel that Zionism is somehow important to the future
world and should not be discarded or traded for some fashionable doctrine. This sentiment
which we shall present and substantiate in the main part of the essay, is perhaps particularly
interesting here, when considered in the light of the Zionist impact on Arab nationalism.
The current (early 94) peace process may be regarded by some of its Zionist opponents as
being the result of a dezionization of Israel. But dezionization is more likely to be the result
than the cause of this process, and the "cure" of dezionization may become worse than the
disease of the Arab-Israeli conflict in its effects on Israeli society and possible loss for the
world.
Of course some Arabs have long claimed that the Israeli Jews aught to forsake Zionism
and be assimilated into the Arab world. This romantic Arab notion harps back to the young
and glorious days of Islam, when indeed many Jews have converted to Islam. But nowadays
there is no perceived attraction in Islam or Arab culture for most Israeli Jews (the extremely
few Jews who convert to Islam do it in the West, not in Arab society).

3.3.2. Counter-Conversion - The Palestinians.

There exists a symmetrically opposite question: can the conflict be overcome through the
conversion of the Palestinian Arabs? This question is very rarely asked by Israelis, perhaps
because of the traditional Jewish exclusiveness and negative attitude towards conversion,
even conversion to Judaism, or because of Israeli ambivalence to Judaism. But once I came to
reflect upon the "Zionization" of the Palestinians, I have found enough examples to come to
the rather startling realization that this process has been going on for quite a while and is
amplifying.
If one takes "Zion" to mean a particular geographical area, the same area that an Arab is
likely to call "Palestine" - and especially the area of Jerusalem - and take Zionism (as it is
indeed taken by most Israelis), as the effort to regain or maintain sovereignty on this land, and
especially over Jerusalem, then the PLO is the shadow of the Zionist organization, although
generally unaware of it.
Since 1978 I have had occasions to learn of P.L.O. theoreticians who became
disenchanted with emulating the Cuban or Vietnamese or Algerian social model and have
started to study the history of Zionism, hoping to succeed in precisely the same fields as their
Jewish rivals. First came the emulation of "Political Zionism" with the success of the PLO in
getting international recognition and in institution building. Over the years there appeared
trends comparable to the "practical Zionism", in which the Jews were willing to exercise those
responsibilities that they were able to obtain, until at the end of 93 came the interim
agreement to a staged program of "Gaza and Jericho First", where many of the PLO
functionaries hope to emulate Israel and obtain similar benefits. Unfortunately, there is as yet
little evidence of something like a Palestinian "spiritual Zionism", which demands that this
effort be a gift to the world. This lack is lamentable among the Palestinian just as is the
weakening of Spiritual Zionism among Israelis. It means that the Palestinian movement has
found no viable alternative to the terrorism which originally gave it power. As the Palestinian
seek to move to another course they will need a coherent and appealing ideology and image of
peace, all the more so because of the feuds among their many factions. The current motive of
regaining Palestinian rights does not suffice to transcend the problems. A more edifying, even
messianic, orientation is needed, rather than the present negative, fanatical and fundamentalist
stance.
Over these years I have imagined literary situations in which a Palestinian radical may be
made to face the claim that he is a Zionist, because his aspiration to gain a state in Palestine-
Zion for his exiled and dispersed nation is in fact a sort of Zionism. In some "no-exit" states
(like in Sartre's famous play, without his former peers and with repeated confrontation with
this contention) a severe stress is likely to develop which may result in resolution by a partial
conversion experience. Seeing himself as destined to become Zionist-like, and becoming well
informed of the history of Zionism, the radical Palestinian may seek to avoid those
manifestations of Zionism which he detests and to find a way of bypassing the mistakes of
Zionism. In this stage a discovery of a more sublime spiritual Zionism may lead him to a
conversion-like experience. He would not become a Jew, an Israeli or a formal Zionist, but an
Arab who seeks his own role in forming a new type of "Spiritual Zionism" - and a good
partner to an Israeli who seeks a way out of the entrapment of Zionism.
All these were literary imaginations, but then I have learned of the experience of Salah
Ta'amari, the highest commander of the Fatah in Southern Lebanon (and husband of King
Hussain's former wife) who became a prisoner in the 1982 war in Lebanon and has gone
through just such an experience (Barne'a, 1989). He certainly has not betrayed his fellow
Arabs, and eventually became their commander in the Antzar POW camp; yet his imagery
and aspirations have become strikingly Zionist, forsaking military for the sake of cultural
work and even planning a World Congress of the Palestinian diaspora in the same building in
Basle where Herzel convened the first Zionist congress.

3.3.3 - Double Conversion and "Passing Over".

Conversion is typically a Christian concept based on the perception of Saint Paul.
Christian theology has developed from those times, and an eminent contemporary Catholic
theologian, John Dunne, has advocated a method of "Passing Over" that is like a double
conversion: first from one's original creed to another one and then, having understood and
mastered that new creed, back to one's original faith (Dunne, 1972). The effect of this is to
promote understanding, and the method forms a junction between conversion and
conversation. I assume that only few people can pass over like that, but they could become
bridge-builders who may later help others to reach intercultural understanding. Yet this is not
a true conversation or genuine dialogue - the overpassing pilgrim experiences the "otherness"
of the other culture, but does not necessarily contact the Other people. It is the "I" passing
over from one culture to another, yet probably remaining locked within the self, not
necessarily a genuine meeting with the "Thou" which may build something new between
them.
3.4 - Conversation.
 The great Jewish philosophers-theologians of the last generation, such as Rosenzweig,
Buber and Heschel, characterized the process of dialogue as basic for the Jewish world-view
and theology. It seems thus right to explore this mode as a way of bringing Zionism out of its
present isolation and reorienting it to become a participant in, and an initiator of, some of the
intercultural dialogues that are vital for the future of humankind. While there are dialogues
that are immediately important for our survival, such as the Arab-Jewish dialogue and the
Israeli-World Jewry dialogue, there are also important broader dialogues such as the Jewish-
Christian, Jewish-Moslem dialogues and even the "Whole Earth Dialogue" of all humankind
and the (living) Earth. All these suggest that there is a pressing need for a general cultural
orientation for sustaining dialogues and for a methodology towards learning the art of fruitful
conversation. As Buber showed (sec. 2.1), even if there is any genuine attempt at conversation
between an "Ishmael" and an "Isaac" (which, in the case of an Arab and an Israeli, is quite
rare), then there are all their images that mingle in many ways in the conversation between
them, leaving little room for genuine inter-human contact and reaching understanding. And in
spite of Buber's important work on dialogical philosophy and on education, he did not
succeed in making remedial applications.

3.4.1 - Conversational Methodologies and Conversation Theory.

The ongoing development toward dialogical paradigms in sociology and psychology
cannot be surveyed here. The author has done such a survey (Khayutman, 1981) that shows
many of the developing paradigms in the social sciences as partial forms of Cybernetician
Gordon Pask's "Conversation Theory" (Pask 1975, 1976), which is a rigorous and
comprehensive conversational (and thus "dialogical") methodology. Conversation Theory
(hence "CT") specifies requisites for initiating and maintaining a conversation that leads to
understandings between two individuals, and its general systemic construction allows
generalizations to inter-cultural (symbolic) interactions (see appendix on Conversation
Theory).
Conversation Theory (CT) regards the cognitive domain, be it personal or cultural, as
stratified into concepts of different logical levels, and communications between individuals
are thus conducted on several logical levels and require different types of language. People
use a practical, "object" language (often non-verbal) to activate concepts and demonstrate
them, but must use conversational languages that refer to self, and to others, in order to talk
about their concepts and to explain them. People often live in a conventional world of
agreements, but they have the potential of also reaching understandings, which are on a higher
logical and existential level. Understandings require answering "why" questions and
producing explanations both of one's own and of the other's explanations. In the process, the
conversing parties, which are named identities, must use self- and other- references. To reach
understandings, the conversants must engage in an "I-You", and not just "I-IT", transactions.
CT does not equate the conversing (P- for psychological-) Individuals with individual
brains but defines them as coherent systems of belief which are entertained in brains as well
as in other suitable media ("Language Processors"). Several P-Individuals, even conflicting
ones, can "reside" in one brain, whereas a single P-Individual can "reside" in several, even
many, brains and their extensions in various media. This is the case of cultural entities, which
are not just shared concepts but coherent systems of beliefs. Types of P-Individuals include
human personalities, theatrical and social roles, schools of thought, systems of belief and
human cultures. Further, CT specifies the requisites, in the conduct of the transactions and the
design of the supporting media, for the emergence of new composite P-Individuals from
"potentially conscious systems" (Pask, 1981).
The following suggestions are extensions of CT, and will need the agreement of other
social science disciplines to win currency. We can claim that the cultural, meta-linguistic,
explanations of one's own and other cultures are, and need be, given by their relevant
"myths" 6. We also claim that full conversations between cultures are possible, though they
need supporting environment and fortunate casting of the PIndividuals, and further, that such
successful conversations can breed cultural innovations (Barnett, 1952) that are still consistent
with the traditions and myths of the culture. (Note, however, that deficient conversations are
often dangerous, even fatal, to the myths of the parties, which are what gives them self-
identity, and thus people have instinctive revulsion from entering such dangerous waters).

3.4.2 - Ideological Reorientation and Symbolic Construction.

The appeal of religions and ideologies is that they promise contact with eternal,
immutable principles as shelter against the relativistic confusion of everyday existence. So
what appeal is there in an ideology that changes or gets reoriented? Yet they must change to
survive and to be pertinent in changing situations. This conflict is overcome through their use
of symbols as the "topic names" of an ideology-cum-mythology. Symbols can be understood
as cognitive keys that can organize and condense whole world-views into single, albeit many-
valued, references. It is by their functions as one-to-many and many-to-one mappings that
they fulfill for the mythologies the role that analogy relations fulfill in an entailment mesh.
Examples to such changes are the developments in Judaism that produced two additional
canonical scriptures - the Talmud and the Zohar - ostensibly out of the original written Torah
scriptures. Every word, even every letter, of the written Torah has been treated as a sacred
symbol that has many additional and hidden meanings. Such items might be expanded to
enormous structures that yield rulings on practical affairs or even cosmological insights which
are quite new in terms of social practice.
The above examples give further indications that symbols provide the entry points for the
reorientation of ideologies. The implication is that ideological reorientation would require
work of "Symbolic Construction" and the synthesis of cultural symbols. There exists vast
analytical literature about cultural symbols, and many of its concepts, such as of "condensed
symbols" (e.g. Douglas, 1973; p.69), seem to be useful for such work, but there is yet hardly
any science on the synthesis of cultural symbols. The author has attempted to draw further
suggestions from CT for this work (Khayutman, 1981). One suggested concept is of
"Redemptive Scenarios" which combine topics pertaining to current existential problems of
the parties with the symbolic topics which describe the Redemption according to pertinent
cultural traditions and myths 7. The elaboration of such Redemptive Scenarios is work for the
pioneers of the new Zionism discussed here, but after these pioneers reach their innovative
understandings, their insights can be reproduced by suitable media for more general interest.
It is thus important to identify symbolic topics for the redemption that are common for parties
which are otherwise in conflict and which can connect with their current issues. These
symbolic goals can then be posited as the "aim topics" for such social discourse of the
conflicting parties. This may at first be a pioneering effort for a cultural elite, but done in a
way that can secure the reproduction of its insights by the public.
3.4.3 - Conversation-supporting Environments.
CT defines Conversation as being mediated by "Language Processors" that allow self-
and other-references. To secure and nurture the production of understandings in an
educational context, a special type of Language Processor called "Conversational Domain"
was devised, which allows the exteriorization of complex cognitive processes and the
detection of understanding (see appendix on CT). Trying to proceed from these specialized
small-scale media to media that could effect the processes happening within society at large,
some insights from anthropological studies of whole (primitive) societies may help establish
the socio-cultural analogues to the components of a Conversational Domain. We may assert
that the analogues to the topic names in a curriculum or individual conversation are the
cultural symbols, and the analogues of the task structures are rituals. The meta-linguistic
level, which is a coherent network of such symbols is, as noted above, essentially a
"mythology". But rather than being the detached object of scientists or the passioned
denounced objects of artists, we can envisage a "meta-mythical" methodology how our myths
can be improved, using a gamut of supportive media and informational environments where
the myths are enacted and productive conversations take place and the innovations they breed
can be transferred. While current mass-media are hardly suitable for reproducing
understandings, novel media for conversation can be developed, and this task is a part of the
proposed orientation.
The insights from CT could be applied to make the occasional sincere dialogues which do
take place in the Middle East, and on other geopolitical stages, into reproducible
understandings that can be experienced by wider publics. They can be used, for example, to
help transfer the experiences of people who have "passed over" (Dunne, 1972) from their
culture to another one and then back again, to the general population. There are still likely to
be large gaps, especially where there are deep-seated difficulties and obstacles to dialogue.
These might be filled through dramatist's skills and the employment of projective techniques
with special individuals and groups, and even hypnotic states could be used to explore the
conceptual worlds of Israeli and Arab volunteers.
The information gleaned from the various sources could then be subjected to analysis and
careful resynthesis that would process the images, situations and understandings into topics
which could be assembled into coherent structures that are much more comprehensive than
the cognition of any particular individual. Given the processed protocols of fruitful
conversations, some general lessons could be deduced on the circumstances under which
mutual understanding is facilitated, on enhancing capabilities for inter-cultural conversation,
and on designing programs for training people to overcome cultural incompatibilities. From
these, educators, dramatists and game designers, who would exploit the dramatic potential of
the original encounter material, could build appropriate conversational domains with their
tasks and modelling facilities, such as movies, dramatic productions for stage or touring
groups, role-playing games, information structures for workshops, etc. The resulting
educational/entertainment materials would allow any person wider learning and experience,
becoming media for teaching individuals the limitations of their current identifications and
techniques for selecting their paths towards mutual understandings.
Further generalizations applied to modern societies may be very worthwhile. We may say
that cities have been the L-Processors in which civilization was embodied and has evolved.
Viewed inclusive of their inhabitants and builders, their concrete structures carry symbolic
messages for their populations and embody their cultural values; while their layouts channel
social transactions. Nowadays civilization is rapidly changing by being embodied in an
emerging communications and computation media, but this is happening quite haphazardly, in
the manner criticized by Buber, by increasing "I-It" communications and substituting them for
"I-You" communications. There is, however, an old image, a symbol of a city as the place of
learning and encounter, even of revelation - that of Jerusalem and of the Heavenly Jerusalem -
and it could be the remedy for these ills of modern civilization.

4. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Old-New Zion.

It is thus time to introduce the Heavenly (or New) Jerusalem. This symbol appeared
already over two thousand years ago in Jewish Midrashim, and Christian scriptures based on
them. Yet this symbol has become almost unknown to all but the more religious Jews and
Christians.
In these legends the Heavenly Jerusalem exists perpetually as the most splendid sight that
one can see. She is the archetype of the good to come, and will be revealed to all at the
redemption of the world. At present she hovers above the buildings of the earthly Jerusalem,
even when they lie in ruin or sin, but only the most righteous can see her, in moments of
grace. In Christian tradition, she is described at the end of the New Testament as both the
perfect city and the bride of the Messiah or Son of Man; she will descend out of Heaven
perfect and complete at the consummation of history.
The Heavenly Jerusalem is an uplifting symbol for the mind. She can provide the
Archimedean, other-worldly fulcrum for both changing the world and lifting Zionism out of
its depressed and entrapped state. Our suggestion is that the symbol of the Heavenly
Jerusalem is the "natural" symbol for encompassing the further ideals of Zionism.
Why of Zionism? Because whatever other connotations that word may have, it
undeniably contains the word Zion, which appears untold times in the Jewish Scriptures and
in prayers for the return of God and the people to the city. Zion is a name for the holy
mountain, for the city of Jerusalem when regarded as the ideal of wholeness and peace, the
wedding of the physical city with moral, spiritual, and aesthetic perfection. This central
meaning of Zion is sometimes forgotten, but it is impossible to take Zion out of Zionism. Let
us then define Zion as the Heavenly Jerusalem and Zionism as the movement for the
actualization of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
There is little mention of this idea in official histories of Zionism but, as I will attempt to
show, the identification of Zionism with the Heavenly Jerusalem has never really been
forgotten. The long history of this symbol in itself gives evidence of its archetypal reality and
potential fertility.
The following are twelve stages and contexts, as it were of twelve "gates" to the story of
the Heavenly Jerusalem. The first ten are brief historic surveys of the concept of the Heavenly
Jerusalem. The last two stages, concerning modern Zionism and contemporary global
developments, are given in somewhat more detail.
4.1. Heavenly Jerusalem and the story of Genesis.
Already in its first chapter (the Kabbalist can show it in its first word) the world's most
widely read book, the Bible, contains the ingredients of a redemptive cosmology. Even if we
regard it as a mythology, the Genesis story (and especially in the original Hebrew), gives
many significant insights. Among them:
(1) Both Heaven and Earth were created, and by the same creative process.
(2) The creation of the world of Adam can be measured by dividing it into six equal stages
which evolve progressively from each other.
(3) The living Earth - Adamah - and prototypical man - Adam - were created by the same
Creator in the same evolutionary process. In the idyllic condition, Adam was to be the
husbandman of Adamah (which in Hebrew is the feminine of the same word).
(4) All humankind is one; we are all the sons of Adam, i.e.-"Sons of Man". This means that
Adam is still alive through each person. Each one of us is something like a cell in the body of
Humankind called Adam.
The following chapters show how Adam's misinformed quest for intelligence (Jewish and
Christian interpretations of the story of Eden greatly differ) led to another form of existence
which still persists. Adam is in exile with only dim memories of Eden. Adamah has become
cursed and Adam relates to her as an alienated laborer.
The Jewish calendar dates history from that exile, which it assumes to have been about
5750 years ago, when historical, human time was invented, i.e., when cultural coding media
such as cities appeared. Most later attempts at calculating the Messianic "End Time" attempt
to read some significance into this calculation.
The next story tells how the sons of Adam, concerned with their alienation from Paradise
and their dispersal over the face of the earth, decide to use their united might to build a tower
from earth to heaven. The Creator stopped them by confusing the common language that
allowed them to act as one. The confusion led them to forget their original unity and the land
where they were confounded became known as Babel (Babylon), "confusion".
A single man brought about a turning point in the situation. Out of the land of Babel
came Abram ("high father"), who apparently re-discovered the unity of the Creator, the unity
of man and the dialogue between the two. He had to leave his homeland and his father's house
and to go to the land of Cana'an ("submission"), where he suffered various trials. The only
place where he really was made welcome was in the city of Shalem ("whole"), the future
Jerusalem. She was ruled by Malkitzedek ("king of justice"), a priest of the high God of
Heaven. Renamed Abraham ("father of multitudes"), he then returned to that area to face his
greatest trial, that of the going to the "Land of Moriah" for the binding and intended sacrifice
of his son Isaac. "Moriah" means either "awe of God" and/or "teachings of God". Tradition
identified the Mount Moriah of Isaac's binding with the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Thus
Abraham visited Jerusalem to receive the teachings of a Kingdom of Justice, Kingdom of
Wholeness and Priesthood of Heaven, and to face the trial of the awe and the teachings of
God.
The book of Genesis ends with the story of how the children of Abram/Abraham and
Israel left the land during a famine for the land of Egypt (Mitzra'im, "boundaries" - oppressing
boundaries, also birth canal), where they became slaves.

4.2. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Kingdom of David.

After 400-years of exile and slavery, the children of Abraham were liberated. They were
given the Torah through Moses and later returned to the land of their fathers. Their struggle
with their neighboring enemies, mainly the Philistines 8, led to their establishing a kingdom.
This kingdom reached its peak in its early days, when King David conquered the city of
Jerusalem and made it his capital, and his wise son Solomon, whose name suggests "peaceful"
or "whole", was instructed to rule in justice and wisdom and to build the Temple as a point of
contact with the divine mansions of heaven (Kings 8:30,39). To David were attributed the
Psalms which were sung in the Temple and remained a spiritual legacy for the whole world.
Also from that time came the moral teaching of the prophets, whose prophetic experiences
were often connected with the Temple rituals and who were at odds with the city's behavior as
the city quickly became corrupt. They spoke to Jerusalem as to a woman and prophesied her
destruction, but also her restoration to an ideal state. Jerusalem and its temple were eventually
destroyed by the king of Babel, "confusion", who carried its people to a new exile in his land.
Jerusalem became a memory and a hope always remembered through the psalms and the
redemptive prophecies.

4.3. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Prophets.

Among the prophets were Isaiah and Mikha, who envisaged the new Jerusalem as the
source of the teaching which would lead to peace and wholeness for the whole earth. It was
shown (Aptowitzer, 1938) that the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem is already mentioned in
Isaiah (49:16) as engraved by God upon the celestial vaults (though this is generally lost in
modern reading and in translation).
Among the prophets was also Ezekiel, who was trained as a priest in the Temple but
worked among the exiled in the town of Tel Aviv, "Mound of Springtime" in Babylonia. His
visions of redemption included detailed predictions concerning the land of Israel. There would
be a federation of twelve tribes and a square-form free zone for the new holy city- temple
which was described in detail. The instructions for rebuilding Jerusalem were given in the
books of Daniel and Ezra and even in the closing sentence of the Hebrew Bible (Chron. II
36:23). This is the injunction of Cyrus (regarded elsewhere as God's Messiah) which calls
upon all those who would build Jerusalem to make their ascent; this last word of the Bible
may be regarded as the essence of Zionism.

4.4. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

The exilic prophecies probably inspired the first Shivat Zion (return to Zion), but the
actual rebuilding of Jerusalem in the time of Ezra proceeded piecemeal. The temple itself was
completed only much later by the cruel and alien king Herod, rather than by the promised
descendent of David. Popular belief started gravitating towards the prospect of "the Kingdom
of Heaven" visions which were being elaborated by mystics and sects. The Heavenly
Jerusalem is mentioned in several of the apocrypha scriptures of that period. The most
important sects were the Sadducees, the custodians of the earthly temple, and the Prushim
(Pharisees), "those apart", who were less inclined to emphasize the temple service than to
elaborate religious laws for all aspects of daily life. They saw life itself as a divine ritual that
would improve society and lead it towards the visions of the prophets, provided it was wholly
consistent with the Biblical laws. Still apart from these two sects were the Essenes who were
obsessed (as evidenced by their Dead Sea scrolls which included the apocrypha scriptures)
with the notions of heavenly ascent and the proper rebuilding of the Temple and its reformed
service. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome (whose reign they regarded as that of "the
sons of darkness"), the Essenes were destroyed in the final battle at Massadah, yet they
apparently had major influence upon incipient Christianity. Thus that very "Christian" book,
the Revelation of John, is very typical of the apocryphal scriptures so cherished by the Dead
Sea sect, and the descriptions of the New Jerusalem in Revelation are very reminiscent of the
descriptions of the future Temple of Jerusalem in the recently found "Temple Scroll".

4.5. Heavenly Jerusalem and Christianity.

The ideas of Jesus developed among the teachings of the Temple-period mystics,
preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, and Paul's doctrines (quite different from Jesus' ideas)
reflect the Essene ascetic ideals of the elect. Even though the successors to Jesus broke with
Judaism, belief in the Kingdom of Heaven and acceptance of the symbol of the perfect New
Jerusalem rose and spread widely as Christianity spread through the world. In Patmos Saint
John again experienced, in related forms, the visions of Ezekiel, the fall of Rome (coded
"Babylon") and the restoration of Jerusalem. The New Testament of Christianity concludes
with his Book of Revelation and it concludes with the image of the New Jerusalem - a vast
cube with twelve pearly gates - coming down from heaven as the bride of the Messiah. It has
been suggested (Michell, 1972 ,1986) that the vast dimensions of the envisioned city
encompass the entire earth and reflect the esoteric gnostic codes inherited from the mystical
traditions of antiquity.
A few centuries later, as the imminent apocalypse did not materialize, Christianity had to
become institutionalized. Saint Augustine used the image of the Heavenly City, in opposition
to the materialistic City of Man, to describe all of human history as a redemptive process.
This city, founded in Abraham's covenant, is the agent of redemption. Thus the fall of the
great Rome is no great disaster for civilization; what matters is the immaterial City of God.
Christian life should be a pilgrimage for otherworldly grace rather than for worldly things.
The Christian Church soon identified itself with the City of God, and its organization was
seen as the machinery of redemption. Then Christianity came to dominate Rome and
eventually Rome, as the capital of the Western Church, came to dominate Christianity in
place of Jerusalem. The Eastern Church built Jerusalem as a pilgrimage city, and when it lost
her to the Moslems, then even the earthly Jerusalem seemed real enough for Western
Christians to warrant the Crusades. When the Crusaders had to retreat from Jerusalem, the
resources of the Christian world were increasingly gathered to build a material New Jerusalem
in Rome. (The Crusades somehow initiated the "Gothic" building of heavenward churches. It
was in Jerusalem that the chivalric Order of the Templars was established, which was later
declared heretic by the Pope and abolished, but which had a role in instigating European
esotericism down to the Freemasons (Baigent, 1989; Robinson, 1989) whose myth relates to
the building of Solomon's Temple).
As the influence of Rome waned in many countries, the image of the heavenly city often
returned in popular folklore as the ultimate goal of Christian pilgrimage (Bunyan, 1678) and
Jerusalem became a cherished symbol often mentioned in hymns and prayer. Currently there
is a resurgence of "Christian Zionism" which supports Israel in anticipation for the "Second
Coming" and the appearance of the New Jerusalem, seeing the Jewish return to the land and
to sovereignty as leading to that final redemption.
4.6. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Talmud.
After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, Temple worship was replaced by
daily prayers which included prayers for the return to and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the
Temple. But even while Rome was conquering Jerusalem, and later Christianity and northern
invaders were conquering Rome, the Tannaim and then later the Amora'im were continuing to
build on the tradition of the Prushim (Pharisees). Their monumental work, the Talmud, is in
itself a sort of a metaphysical city, the common work of thousands of people interacting
through centuries of common construction. The Talmud became the true abode of Judaism for
many centuries. What the City of God should be for the Christian, according to Augustine, the
Talmud was for the Jews. A Jew could literally live inside the Talmud, drawing all instruction
for every act of life in the world, and aspiring to studying it for its own sake as if already
dwelling in paradise.
The Talmud records many legends of the period about Jerusalem: that the heavenly
temple was created much before Genesis; that the temple site in Jerusalem was Adam's place
of worship, the stopper for the flood water, the place of Abraham's offering of Isaac, and
much more. The Heavenly City herself, which is to be realized by the redemption, can already
be seen in moments of grace by the Tsaddikim, (the wholly righteous people who are "the
foundation of the world", the earthly bridge to the divine), and they can receive the inspiration
from her. Yet the Talmud has a somewhat reserved attitude to the legends of the Heavenly
Jerusalem by insisting on her subservience to the earthly Jerusalem, reflecting (Aptowitzer,
1938) the already open dispute with Christianity which emphasized the other-worldly
Jerusalem and identified with her.

4.7. Heavenly Jerusalem and Islam.

The prophet Mohammed was apparently one of those who could see the Heavenly
Jerusalem. His original direction of prayer was towards Jerusalem, (in accordance with the
practices of the Jewish mystics for ascending to the celestial mansions 9) and when his
prayers were answered on the Night of Power, it was by way of Jerusalem that he ascended to
Heaven and drew the "down pouring" from Heaven which produced the Koran. In
Mohammed's version of the Biblical story, Ishmael is sometimes given a role similar to that of
Isaac, but the rock at the Temple Mount continues to be considered as the site of Abraham's
offering of his son to God. After the Moslem Empire split, the Dome of the Rock and the al-
Aksa Mosque, which commemorates Mohammed's ascent, were erected in Jerusalem as
pilgrimage sites alternative to Mecca. Over the years they were accepted widely to become
the third holiest place of Islam.
Islamic legends continue the Talmudic Midrash about Jerusalem, which is portrayed as
the scene for the Day of Judgement and the consummation of history. There is even a legend
that in the End of Days the stone of the Ka'aba will fly to Jerusalem (much like the tradition
behind the vision in the Book of Revelation). Jerusalem is called in Arabic "el Kuds" - the
Holy - and the concept of the Heavenly Jerusalem as the abode of exalted consciousness has
its parallel in Islam by the name of Dar Es-Salaam - the domain of (holy-holistic) peace.
After the conquest of the Crusaders and the exile of the Moslems from Jerusalem, a
form of "Islamic Zionism" rose with many songs of praise to the glories of Jerusalem as
paradise lost and paradise to be regained. Then for several centuries Jerusalem was again
quite marginal for Islam. Yet in the present time, particularly because of the Jewish takeover
of Jerusalem, Jerusalem has become a powerful sacred symbol for the Moslems. This makes
Jerusalem a potential cause of war, but it also brings back powerfully her symbolic
significance as the domain of peace. (In a recent conversation with Sheikh Suleiman Ja'abari,
the Mufti of Jerusalem, the sheikh recalled another Islamic legend about the Heavenly
Jerusalem, with a heavenly tree situated above Jerusalem from whose roots flow three rivers,
signifying Islam, Christianity and Judaism.) It is thus quite possible that Jerusalem may rise as
an alternative focus (qibla) of Islam, one which symbolizes plurality.

4.8. Heavenly Jerusalem and the Kabbalah.

During the second exile, the symbol of Jerusalem continued to gain importance in Jewish
thought. Jerusalem became the paradise lost and the paradise to be regained; paradise had thus
been urbanized. The Kabbalah which grew in this milieu restored the image of the Heavenly
Jerusalem to Jewish lore (Idel, 1985). The major Kabbalistic canon, the Zohar, described all
the land of Israel as the setting for the metaphysical journeys of sages who discovered there
the intricacies of the redemptive cosmology implicit in the Bible.
There are several references to the Heavenly Jerusalem in the Zohar. In one she has been
created by God to house the souls of the righteous (Tsadikim). In another, the formation of
Adam's wife from his side parallels the building of Jerusalem in the Time to Come. In
general, the Kabbalah came to identify Jerusalem with the Sefira of Malkhut "Kingdom" or
the Shekhinah "habitation", and the Heavenly Jerusalem became identified with the higher
Shekhinah, which is the Sefirah of Binah "understanding", and also "The World to Come"
(Olam haBa).
After the exile from Spain, the actual land of Israel came to be the site where the
Kabbalistic masters regathered from the Sephardi, Ashkenazi and Byzantine diaspora, and
Jerusalem became the main Kabbalistic center in the world (eclipsed only briefly by Safed)
and has remained so continuously since then. The greatest Kabbalist master, Rabbi Isaac
Luria "the Holy ARI" was born in Jerusalem, and raised in Egypt, but it was in Safed in the
Galilee that he revealed himself for his brief ministry. Luria did not write but some of his
twelve disciples wrote his complex theology which soon became the main Jewish theology for
two centuries.
Following the destruction of the second Temple it was taught that the divine presence on
earth, the holy Shekhinah, went into exile just as Israel did. In medieval Kabbalah, which
identified the holy Shekhinah with the Sefirah of Malkhut, we find the idea that the Shekhinah
became separated from the Godhead through this exile and that the unity of the heavenly
spheres will only return with Israel's return to Jerusalem. Luria expanded this notion into a
cosmic drama: the divinity was exiled and the sparks of divine light were already scattered
even before Eden. Adam was created by God expressly to gather the exiled sparks, bring
restitution and redeem the whole world. The structure of the divine sparks, of Adam's soul
and of the world, reflect each other. Each person is a sub-unit of Adam's soul, and is born
with an individual responsibility to gather up his corresponding spark of divine light. The
liberation and reunion of all this divinity-within-matter will bring, or will constitute, the
redemption (Thus the exile from Jerusalem, the return and her rebuilding is reflected in
heaven as on earth).
4.9. Heavenly Jerusalem and Shambhala.
Thus far, the Heavenly Jerusalem was presented in the context of the "Abrahamic", or
monotheistic, religions, and one might assume that the concept has no relevance for the
majority of humankind - the cultures of Middle and Eastern Asia. But in fact, there is a
closely parallel concept in Buddhism, that of Shambhala. In many Asian countries, countless
generations have heard the legend of a land called Shambhala - a remarkable place bathed in
peace, harmony and communal good will. a model society. The stories tell that Buddha
himself handed down advanced tantric teachings to the first ruler of Shambhala, Dawa
Sangpo. The benevolent king openly shared these teachings with his people. Soon, all of
Shambhala began to study, meditate and follow the spiritual path. Many Tibetans believe that
the kingdom of Shambhala still exists, hidden deep in the pure, uncharted valleys of the
Himalayas. Other legends suggest that the enlightened society literally transcended into a
more celestial realm many centuries ago. But as a great contemporary Tibetan teacher writes:
"Among many Tibetan Buddhist teachers, there has long been a tradition that regards the
kingdom of Shambhala not as an external place, but as the ground or root of wakefulness and
sanity that exists as potential within every human being" (Trungpa, 1988).
These are quite similar to the legends and understandings about the Heavenly Jerusalem,
but they seem to relate to a different geographical region, the middle of Asia rather than the
Middle East. Yet there might be a case for combining the assumed locations. The hidden mid-
Asiatic realm is, in fact, very similar to that which appears in Jewish legends as the hidden
land of the Lost Tribes of Israel beyond the Sambatyon river; tribes who, these legends claim,
will return to Jerusalem at the time of the redemption. The case would be that, whereas
Shambhala should manifest everywhere on earth, there is a point in linking it to a symbolic
ceremonial central point on earth from which this hope should be evoked. As the people of
Asia discover the rest of the world cultures, they may attach importance to the location of
Jerusalem which is in Asia - but yet is in the "center of gravity" of the earth's continents,
namely at the center of the inhabited earth, the oikumene (see Sec, 4.12 below), and thus the
center for the emergent collectivity of humankind.

4.10. Heavenly Jerusalem and Marxism.

Trying to associate Marx with the Heavenly Jerusalem or with Zionism may seem
sacrilegious to the orthodox on both sides of the dialectic between materialism and religion,
yet a useful retrospective insight may be drawn from viewing Marx as a (Jewish) Messianic
prophet.
It is well known that this grandson of rabbis had a strong distaste for religions which
Marx thought distracted the masses from the true sources of alienation, wage labor and class
divisions. However, Marx's motto: "The philosophers have always tried to explain the world;
the point, however, is to change it", is in line with the Jewish prophetic tradition. A summary
by a modern Marxist scholar (Hypolite, 1969), reveals some similarity between Marxism and
the Lurianic Kabbalah:
"Marx presented a substitute Kingdom of God on Earth, which is the complete
reconciliation of man and nature. Emancipated from every form of alienation, man as the
effective producer of his own life has appropriated his universal nature, which in the early
history of society appeared alien to him".
 It is instructive that Marx's candidate for reconstructing the "City of Man", the British
Labor Movement, chose for its anthem, and thus as the symbol of its aim, this stanza of
William Blake's hymn, "Jerusalem":
"I shall not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green and pleasant land."
While Marxism, and Communism gained power, the exalted materialist visions of
Marxism have not materialized, and the totalitarian ideology which only a few decades ago
seemed capable of overtaking the whole world is now in the process of disappearing. Yet with
its demise we can see that Marxist communism fulfilled some idealistic purpose and its
disappearance has left a vacuum, now being filled by atavistic religion and fierce nationalism
as witnessed in Russia, in the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere. There was, and is, a need for
a supranational redemptive ideology which Marxism at least pointed towards.

4.11. Heavenly Jerusalem in early Modern Zionism.

It is significant to note that the Jewish Aliyah to Jerusalem persisted throughout the
diaspora and was growing in influence during the 19th century, even before the creation of
Political Zionism (e.g. the 1st Zionist congress in 1897). In the 1860's Jews were already a
majority in Jerusalem and were building their New Jerusalem in the form of humble Jewish
neighborhoods outside the old city walls.
The connections between the Zionist movement as organized by Herzel and the Zion
which is the Heavenly Jerusalem were tenuous to start with. Herzel himself came to Jerusalem
only in 1898, in order to meet the German Emperor there. He did not like the city that he saw,
which did not accord with his visions. Herzel was certainly a great visionary, but in spite of
his childhood Messianic dreams, he was neither a millennarian nor a Jewish mystic. Herzel's
Zionism was more within the new tradition of Marx and the 19th century Utopians than that
of passive Messianism; the Zionist leader wanted the Jew to build his destiny with his own
hands, just as any other man.
At first, Herzel did not even think Zion-Jerusalem, or even the Land of Israel, as essential
to his Zionism, and when he later wrote the utopian novel "Old-New Land", the ideal city it
described was not Jerusalem but Haifa. When the novel was translated into Hebrew it was
named Tel Aviv, "Ruins of Springtime", signifying the combination of old and new - but also
the name of the Babylonian city where Ezekiel had prophesied about the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Jewish new neighborhoods were being built outside the walls of old Jaffa not long after
the exit from the walls in Jerusalem, and the first neighborhood, Neve Tsedek, was founded in
1886, before the first Zionist congress. Between 1904 and 1909 a group was formed in Jaffa
with a vision of new urban life in a modern Jewish city. They built the neighborhood of
Ahuzat Bayit ("a homestead") in the sands outside Jaffa as a quasi-cooperative enterprise.
Within a year they all realized that they were creating a city; they named the city Tel Aviv, in
honor of Herzel and his vision.
Tel Aviv had its own visionaries and prophets. The late Yitshak HayutMan (Haissman),
my grandfather, who had the original concept and brought the other four co-founders of the
"first Hebrew City" into the partnership, allowed no boundaries to his visions. Walking in the
seemingly endless sand, hol in Hebrew, he urged people to hurry and build their houses in the
city before its growth made land prices prohibitive. On Tel Aviv's 25th birthday, he made an
appeal to the citizens to organize themselves to purchase land in Sinai and build there a
second Tel Aviv in order to overcome the city's suffocation and the high land prices. His real
concern, however, was not for quantity but for quality and he preferred Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
because it had room left to attempt better designs and ways of life. It was noted (haMe'iri,
1941) that he really believed that Tel Aviv might grow to become the Heavenly Jerusalem and
that this was his highest aspiration. He was thus distressed about the ways in which his city
was developing, about the pettiness and lack of vision in her society and the negligent
creation of future urban ills, and was convinced that conflict with the Arabs was avoidable.
But with all his growing pessimism Haissman was full of confidence in the Jewish genius and
destiny, even that Jews would be able to write a new Torah if needed.
A better known visionary of that era was Rav Kuk, the chief Rabbi of Jaffa and a good
friend of Tel Aviv's founders. Kuk saw, in the physical settlement of the land, the visible
signs of the coming final redemption of Israel and of the whole world.
Kuk saw the secular pioneers as forming the emerging mind (Nefesh) of the nation,
caring for the vitality of the body of the nation. He saw the orthodox as maintaining the spirit
(Ru'ah) of the nation, and he readily admitted that this spirit had become ossified, needing its
own revitalization by the example of the pioneers. The soul (Neshamah) of the nation are the
Tsaddikim who are charged with harmonizing the mind and spirit and keeping them open to
receive the divine influence (Recall that these Tsaddikim are granted, according to tradition,
the ability to see the Heavenly Jerusalem here and now).
Kuk applied the distinction between kodesh, holiness, and hol, worldliness with reference
to Zionism: "The name Zion or Zionism symbolizes the hol in the renascence movement,
whereas the name Jerusalem expresses the holiness in the renascence of the nation". Stuck in
Europe in 1914, he conceived of a way for making Zionism holy and started to organize a
movement for this, which he called "Jerusalem" or "the flag of Jerusalem". This movement
was intended to relate amicably to the prevalent Zionism but not to become a branch of the
Zionist organization. In fact, Kuk saw this movement as the root of which general Zionism is
only a branch. The Jerusalem movement, according to him, would become the whole body of
the nation and eventually transform secular Zionism. When the war ended and Kuk returned,
he did not go back to Tel Aviv but became chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. When he found that the
two existing religious parties kept seeing his intended Jerusalem movement only as
competition, he abandoned his plans for it.
These old stories about Herzel, Yitshak HayutMan and Rav Kuk are becoming pertinent
today. The two cities represent distinct aspects of contemporary Israeli society and have long
been in cultural competition. There is Tel Aviv, the city of hol: it is profane, noisy, traffic
clogged, flashy, and aging in spite of its cult of youth, almost synonymous in everyday speech
with a degraded quality of life. Arab propaganda used to paint a caricature of "the Tel Aviv
government of the Zionist state", perceived as a Western colony; its reality also attests to the
shortcomings and oversights of political Zionism.

It is the earthly Jerusalem where the new battle for Israel's soul is being fought. In spite of
all Israel's past attempts, it is certain that "the problem of Jerusalem" will not disappear, and it
is in Jerusalem that contemporary Zionism is forced to confront problems which it has
avoided for decades and to seek solutions for its deeper problems, in particular:
1) Peaceful co-existence between Jews and Arabs and among the Abrahamic religions.
There is no way to avoid pluralism, even for those not yet able to comprehend it.
2) Maintaining a coherent and edifying image for this rapidly expanding and
extremely diverse city.
3) Developing and synthesizing new insights, human relations and understandings out
of this diversity.

4.12. The Heavenly Jerusalem, Holism and the Whole Earth.

There is an emerging global view which brings a universalist and futuristic orientation
towards the Heavenly Jerusalem, even if it does not always call her by this name, starting with
de Chardin (1881-1955). Teilhard was a Jesuit priest and a mystic and also one of the world's
leading paleontologists. He was forbidden to publish his books by his religious superiors
during his lifetime, and his Phenomenon of Man became available only in 1955. That book
crossed all the boundaries that separate - in Christian culture - the inanimate and the animate,
the physical and the mental, body, mind and soul.
Teilhard saw the whole of creation in one vast and integral evolutionary purpose. From
the whirling gases evolved the envelope of rock, then round this evolved a second envelope of
life, and then round this an envelope of the products of consciousness. So there are: 1) the
rocky Earth, called geosphere; 2) the surrounding film of life, called biosphere, and 3) the
artifact envelope of the technosphere and the envelope of emergent mind, called noosphere.
In all this Teilhard saw a continuous process of evolution through complexification (his
term), eventually converging on a point that he called Omega. At Omega, the noosphere
achieves an intense unification, an organization that is hyper-personal, through the increase of
both knowledge and love. This final evolution alone betokens the capacity of man to cope
with complexification through his own complexification. (Beer, 1975; p. 17-18).
Teilhard did not refer directly to the Heavenly Jerusalem, but his whole eschatological
view was clearly derived from the Revelation of John, where the name Omega is used for the
goal of history and where the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem is presented as a new cover,
coextensive with the whole earth. Teilhard spoke, significantly, about the two new spheres
built around the earth: the concrete "technosphere" of the urbanization of the planet, and an
invisible "noosphere" emanating from it - which closely parallel the two aspects or levels of
Jerusalem - the earthly and the heavenly.
Beer comments that Teilhard's thesis could not become science as long as the basic
paradigms of science were the atomist, reductionist models of the Greeks. His outlook could
be considered scientific only after 1948, when Norbert Wiener published his book
Cybernetics and the formula for information (as the inverse of the thermodynamic formula for
entropy), implying that information is the basic process of the universe.
There is a close and important parallel with the development of the concept of "holism",
proposed in 1926 by Field-Marshal Smuts, who brought spiritual concerns of "holiness" to the
realm of science and the theory of evolution. Smuts approached the spiritual from the point of
view of the existence of wholes and wholeness in nature and tried to show (Smuts, 1926) that:
"This whole-making or holistic tendency is fundamental in nature, that it has a well-marked,
ascertainable character, and that evolution is nothing but the gradual development and
stratification of progressive series of wholes, stretching from the inorganic beginnings to the
highest levels of spiritual creation." Smuts does not refer to Jerusalem, but we may recall that
the Hebrew meaning of Jerusalem - "Yoru-Shalem" - means "will demonste the whole", and
that the Arabic name for Jerusalem - El Kuds - means "the Holy".
Smuts too could not validate his thesis adequately, mainly because at this time there was
no science such as analytic biology which could study wholes as such. After Wiener's
formulation of organization in terms of information measures, it has become possible to study
organization in the abstract, and cybernetics is becoming successful in defining and studying
wholes. We now have the tools to study nature and man-made systems holistically and yet
rigorously. The rigorous formulations of Conversation Theory (Sec. 3.2.1) may be thus
applicable to global cultures. Just as a city may be viewed as a "Mechanical Individual" and
its civilization seen as a "Psychological Individual", using this theory, we may also view the
global "Technosphere" or the worldwide city of "Ecumenopolis" (Doxiadis, 1968) as an
emerging Mechanical Individual, and view the Noospheric development as an emerging
(hyper) Psychological Individual which may, if we so wish, be named "the Heavenly
Jerusalem".
A related concept, that of "Oikumenos" has already been employed (Stringer, 1975) in
the context of a world-view called "Tellurianism". Stringer contends that "the actions of
mankind throughout history have gradually created a living organism of fantastic complexity
that draws its life support from the surface of the Earth. This creature is constantly evolving
and extending itself, and has a fantastic ability to transform its immediate environment. It has
a memory and a consciousness: consequently, it is recognizably a `being' or even a `person'.
And, most important of all for us as individuals, it exerts a controlling influence on the lives
of millions of human beings. Stringer regards this creature as the unrecognized god of
mankind, naming it Oikumenos, from the Greek word "Oikumene" meaning inhabited land,
i.e. the settled part of the Earth. Oikumenos is likely to reach its maximum possible size
sometime in the early part of the twenty second century 10. Our problem is to ensure that,
while this stage is being attained, it will not become sick (there comes a list of possible
malfunctions) - or else Oikumenos will not be a fit place in which human beings can live....."
One critical issue is the mode of communication between humankind and the earth.
Oikumene/the Technosphere can be regarded, and developed, as either the separation or the
communications interface between two evolving living wholes that are so large that they are
hardly recognized by everyday perception and mainline science - namely the whole earth and
all of humankind as a unified and potentially conscious entity.
For prehistoric people the Earth was considered to be alive and sacred, to be approached
and addressed through strict ritual. Former civilizations also revered the "Earth Spirit"
(Michell, 1975) and their construction was done in consultation with an occult science of
"geomancy", which considered the terrestrial energy flows (and which survived in China,
named Feng-Shui, till the last century and used everywhere, even for high density habitation).
In the present era of world-wide urbanization transforming the face to the earth, there is
hardly any consideration of subtle "Bio-Energies" or "Geo-Energies" . Recently, cybernetic
considerations were employed by James Lovelock to posit the "Gaia Hypothesis" - that the
earth is indeed a living being (Lovelock, 1979, 1988). The Gaia Hypothesis (and the name)
has gained enormous popularity in certain environmentalist circles, with some fringe elements
even reviving pagan rituals for Gaia's sake.
 It is instructive, however, that John Michell, possibly the most important writer on "earth
mysteries" and ancient monuments, repeatedly suggested the City of Revelation of St. John,
the New/Heavenly Jerusalem, as the ultimate model and goal of these designs and as co-
extensive with the whole earth (Michell, 1972), and that the twelve fold pattern of this city is
the key for "the science of enchanting the landscape" (Michell and Rhone, 1991). (We may
also recall that Buckminster Fuller already employed the twelve-pointed icosahedron for
representing the whole earth in his "dymaxion maps", intended to enhance global
consciousness).
Likewise, there are different versions and visions about the development of humankind,
and for some the vision of the New Jerusalem is very meaningful in this context. A foremost
futurist and advocate of "conscious evolution" for a unified and qualitatively superior
humankind is Barbara Marx Hubbard, a follower of Teilhard de Chardin and Buckminster
Fuller. In her recently published "book of co-creation" (Hubbard, 1993) she chose the Biblical
Book of Revelation as the basis for a modern future vision and in particular the New
Jerusalem as the guiding vision: "The New Jerusalem is our potential, collectively, to
transcend all creature/human limitations through the harmonious use of our capacities,
achieving a society of Universal Humans whose minds and bodies are total reflections of the
mind of God".

5. The New Heavenly Jerusalem - Heaven, Havannah and Bniyah.

The main problem with the suggestion of using the vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem is
that in the past it was used in Christianity in a strongly dualistic manner of the "heavenly" as
opposed of the "earthly", and the Heavenly Jerusalem was used to negate the earthly
Jerusalem, seeming to negate all earthly concerns. Most people are anyway conditioned to
very dualistic perceptions and assume that if something sounds "spiritual" than it must be
automatically the opposite of "real" or "practical". So the "Heavenly Jerusalem" often
conjures the image of "a pie in the sky" that cannot have practical uses. Therefore, a
"heavenly" orientation will be worthwhile only to the extent that we can arrive at meanings of
the term "heavenly" which go beyond its old dualistic connotations and incorporate more
systemic scientific and theological insights, such as of the Kabbalah (sec. 4.8), which studies
the system of the ten divine emanations, the Sefirot (single, Sefirah), and their dynamics.
In the Kabbalah, the Heavenly Jerusalem is often identified with the Higher Shekhina,
literally "habitation", which is the Sefirah of Binah, "understanding" and "The World to
Come" (Olam haBa). This concept of haOlam haBa is not in dualistic opposition to haOlam
Hazeh, "The World That Is", but continuously penetrates our world and renews it.
This process of the transformation of this world is symbolized by the seven Sefirot of
Bniyah, which are below the Sefirah of Binah and which also correspond to the seven days of
Creation. This process is seen by some as requiring six thousand years for its completion,
during which haOlam haZeh is transformed into haOlam haBa. As we have seen, this new
world can also legitimately be considered "the world of understanding", and in this, the
Kabbalistic insights accord very well with the new insights of cybernetics.
We can attempt to absorb these learned relationships by capturing them through easily
pronounced relations. We may thus associate the English word "Heaven" with the Hebrew
Havannah, "understanding". Another such condensation is achieved by equating the reaching
for the Heavenly City with bniyah, "building". In Hebrew there is a ready connection between
Binah, "understanding", and bniyah, implying that we need not just sit and wait for the
coming of the Messiah with some Cargo-from-the-sky but build both ourselves and our
environment through and to ("heavenly") understandings, thereby becoming ready to receive
the heavenly plenty or Shefa. Thus this paper advocates realizing or Building Heavenly
Jerusalem, expecting that understandings should grow and connect into large coherent
structures, much as a city grows, until they cover the whole earth, as prophesied.
In the introduction of the canonical work of Kabbalah, the Zohar (the Book of
Splendor"), an explanation is given on the verse "...say to Zion, Thou art my people" (Isaiah
51:16). The Zohar asserts that one should not read there "ami" (My people) but "imi" (with
Me) - namely that those who are called "Zion" are literally co-creators who are building the
New Heaven and New Earth together with God. This cocreation is done by reaching excellent
innovative teachings (excellent-metsuyanim, which is connected to Tsion-Zion).
Such concepts of building "Jerusalem" as building the spiritual or holy part of Zionism
were foreseen by Rav Kuk. His teachings on the sanctification of the profane are worth
recalling here. An extract:
"The kodesh (holiness) must be built upon the hol (profane, and also sand). The hol is the
material of the kodesh, and the kodesh is its form. The more stable that the material becomes,
the more significant the form will be."
Yaron (1974) has summarized his approach to building the kodesh thus:
"The method of connecting the kodesh to the hol in the philosophy of Rav Kuk resembles
a ladder in which man climbs from the hol to the kodesh.
...Each stage prepares the man for the next stage. But even after he has arrived at the highest
level and reached the stage of holiness, he cannot neglect the prior stages. The kodesh must be
attached to the hol.
...In the ladder of hol-kodesh all the rungs are required for the maintenance of the ladder. the
kodesh not only cannot exist without the hol, but the very nature of the kodesh obliges it to be
infused within the hol. The material-hol receives its purpose from the form-kodesh, but the
form is also dependent on the material and is attached to it.
...The relationship between the kodesh and the hol, as between the spirit and body, is a
relationship of continuous mutual influence. The kodesh becomes strengthened and fortified
through the connection of man with the actual world in which he lives."

6. Heavenly Jerusalem as a Symbol of Future Zionism.

While symbols may mean different things for different people, they have an integrative
power and tend to reinforce certain values. The Heavenly Jerusalem as the symbol of future
Zionism calls for an optimistic outlook to a rich future and is pregnant with many meanings
and potentialities. We shall discuss below just a few of the pertinent values and practices that
are likely to be amplified through the adoption of the realization of the Heavenly Jerusalem as
the next goal of Zionism.

6.1 Heavenly Orientation and Aliyah.

The Heavenly Jerusalem emphasizes a new kind of "Spiritual Zionism". It offers a
remedy for the current situation in Israel where life is becoming increasingly materialistic,
narrowly focused and subgrouporiented. Its adoption could orient us for a more meaningful
spiritual and social life.
This idea can be illustrated through the most basic Zionist commandment - that of aliyah,
immigration to the Land of Israel. It is now largely encouraged by material incentives and
valued for its effect on population statistics. But aliyah has many meanings. In Hebrew, the
Heavenly Jerusalem is Yerushalayim shel Ma'ala and aliyah is, literally, the activity of
reaching Ma'ala. aliyah is the commandment which forms the very last word of the Jewish
Bible, expressly in the context of rising to volunteer and to participate in the building of
Jerusalem. Among religious Jews, aliyah is the honor given to members of a congregation on
Shabbat and holy days, "to go up to the Torah". Among the Kabbalists, aliyah is the peak of
meditation, when the adept is lifted up to see the heavenly worlds where also the Heavenly
Jerusalem can be found 11.
The new concept of ascent/aliyah associated with the Heavenly Jerusalem, which is an
urban and communal image, can become social as well as individual. It calls for rising up to
behold, welcome, and help to bring about the Heavenly Jerusalem, and so is reminiscent of
the traditional communal pilgrimages, aliyah laregel, to Jerusalem.
In the Book of Psalms there is a collection of the "Ma'alot Poems", Psalms 120-136,
which are pertinent to the vision of Yerushalayim shel Ma'ala. Psalm 122 gives a description
of what the pilgrims see when they approach the gates of Jerusalem: "Our feet were standing
at thy gates, O Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim which is built as a city joined together."
An interpretation-expansion (Perush) of the symbols of "Building Jerusalem" begins
from this description, as it is expanded word by word in the chart below, to define twelve
semantic symbols, which we may regard as "gates to the Heavenly Jerusalem" or as key
topics names, in gaining understandings of how to rectify the world, which, in our terms,
corresponds to how to build the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Basic terms Semantic symbol Meaning
A. YERU a. Torah Teaching; the Law (of Moses).
B. SHALAYIM b1. Shalem Whole (thus also holy, see 4.12)
b2. Shalom Peace.
C. haBNUYAH c1. Bniyah Building.
c2. Havannah Understanding.
D. k'IR d. Ir City.
E. sheHUBRA-la e1. Hibur Joining, composition.
e2. Hevra Society.
F. YAHDAV f1. Yahad Together.
f2. Yahadut Togetherness.
f3. Yahid Individual, unique.
f4. Hedvah Joy
We shall now explore the values and possibilities which are emphasized as we
join together various facets of this vision.
6.2 (Torah & Shalem) Teaching wholeness - A New Torah from Zion.
Science today is still largely based on reductionist methods, and is fragmented into many
hundreds of disciplines that do not communicate with each other. Applications of science and
technology to complex contemporary problems are usually fragmentary and often even
exacerbate these problems. Our age sorely misses the wholesome-holistic applications of
science and technology.
The Mosaic Torah knows of wholesome social regulation of even the basic economic
structuring of the society (the Jubilee principle). The Torah was greatly extended by the
Talmudists, who developed conversational methodologies for their dedicated work. Though
they were interested primarily in issues with practical importance, they knew how to build
self-supporting and self-referring cognitive wholes and used the symbol of "Towers that hover
in the air" for such structures.
Modern theories of wholes and system-theoretic methodologies also point to new
possibilities of transcending disciplinary fragmentation and discovering wholes at every level,
and we saw them as pointing to the Heavenly Jerusalem. The prophets's vision (Isaiah 2:3,
Mikha 4:2) is that "Out of Zion will come Torah and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem"
may well mean that this new Torah will be of "Yoru-Shalem" - to demonstrate the whole. If
this would be the new orientation of Zionism, Jerusalem could be the natural center for
holistic teaching, combining the excellence of the traditional and modern methods. The
academic "Ivory towers" could then coalesce into the "metropolis" of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
and this metropolis would in turn form a matrix within which to build a holistic technology
for material, behavioral and cultural applications, and thus for constructing the antithesis of
the Tower of Babel. This vision is a most appropriate goal for the future Zionism; it is in line
with Mikha's prophesy about the Torah that will come forth from Zion to the world.

6.3 (Shalom, Bniyah & Havannah) - Building Bridges to Peace.

The peace suggested by the Hebrew word Shalom is suggestive of wholeness and of
holistic solutions (sec. 3.2), or of "positive peace". Building such a holistic peace is a major
challenge for applying the scientific study of wholes. This paper shows that the holistic
bridges to peace are intercultural understandings and that through them a whole "city of
peace" - which is another meaning for the Heavenly Jerusalem - could be built.
Our conclusion of the cybernetic Conversation Theory and of equating the "heavenly"
nature of the city with havannah-understanding is that the Heavenly Jerusalem can be built
through the very endeavor to reach it. In the course of aspiring to the heavenly Jerusalem,
people build understandings between them, and these understandings then constitute the
heavenly Jerusalem.
The Heavenly Jerusalem can represent a goal for Christians, Jews, Moslems and secular
socialist idealists (sec. 4). When each party really desires to reach this universal goal, it will
learn that it cannot succeed without considering the other parties, both as different and also as
necessary to the achievement of that goal. We Jews are slowly finding that our Zionist ideals
cannot be realized without our considering the hopes and dignity of the Palestinians.
The more mutual recognitions occur, the more added chances there are for cooperation.
The Arabs are perhaps even slower than the Israelis in recognizing their need of the other.
Both sides may require a period of self-reliance in order to appreciate themselves as well as
others. The Christian Arabs, being a double minority, may have a particular potential for
playing an important role in both the Christian-Jewish and the Arab-israeli dialogues.
As such realizations are established among people in the M.E., there could be those who
dedicate their time to seeking the proper partners and engaging in the relevant dialogues. For
those people, the vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem built of understanding, as outlined here, is
likely to be a guide and a strength. These true pioneers may embrace conversational
methodologies of reaching understandings and exercise them in a rigorous, perhaps ritualistic,
manner. In the context of our common goal here, these understandings are likely to be
intercultural as well as interpersonal. Understandings are stable entities amongst the welter of
existence; they can stand on their own, be reproduced and joined together into larger wholes.
The test of the new Torah of Zion could consist in the assembly of such genuine
understandings into large coherent assemblies and in processing these so as to form the basis
for popular media shows and new curricula for the coming generation. We can envisage some
of the critical understandings discovered through the process becoming codified into new
"rites of passage" for the increasing numbers of people intent upon reaching the Heavenly
Jerusalem. A whole spirit of peace can develop out of these experiments in Zion, and might
spread in the Middle East and the whole earth.

6.4 (Bniyah & Ir) - City Building and Urban Living.

The Heavenly Jerusalem, as developed in Judaism, is a symbol of an ideal urban
existence, but the quality of urban living has never been a priority of Zionist ideology, even
though urban living is the actual lot of the majority of people in Israel.
Early Practical Zionism idealized an Eden of rural settlements; its "Revisionist"
opponents had the fortress city of Beitar as their ideal, while much of the religious population
has felt the importance of preserving its ghetto living patterns. At the birth of Tel Aviv there
was a vision of founding the Heavenly Jerusalem, but its development was overtaken by a
wave of materialism and the initial vision was forgotten. The quality of urban living has been
neglected and it is still not an acknowledged national priority.
The adoption of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the symbol of ideal urban existence, as our goal,
immediately places urban conditions in our focus of attention. We can then see urban
problems such as bureaucracy and deterioration as symptoms of spiritual problems. In this
way, an additional, symbolic dimension is added to our problems so that we do not become
immersed in their superficial details. Our attention must be directed to the here and now, but
with a more holistic perspective directed toward the building of the kodesh (holy) from the
hol (mundane) as envisioned by the Rav Kuk.
Once we begin to aspire towards the Heavenly Jerusalem, we can begin to reflect upon
the cities in which we live as extensions of ourselves. At that point the cities will come to life
to teach us about our real situation and culture, as well as about what can be and needs to be
done. (Note that the Hebrew word for city - Ir òéø- has to do with being stimulated and awake
- Er òø).
6.5 (Hibur & Yahad) joining together - Mosaic Patterns.
The first Ma'alot Psalm characterizes Jerusalem as a city that was made up of many units.
Even visitors to the presently-united Jerusalem sense that the unique character of this city is
derived from the diversity of communities and neighborhoods with very different life- styles
compacted together within a small area. Jerusalem can be compared - as former mayor Kollek
used to compare her - to a vast mosaic made from many small pieces, each with its own
simple color, which combine to make a rich and elaborate picture. This image of Jerusalem
can bring us to understand something very fundamental about the world - and the systemic
composition of what are generally regarded as unitary "things".
Being so used to regarding the world as being made of unitary objects, we fail to realize
that this "reality" is an artifact of perception with many defects. One defect is that nothing
works for long or responds if it is regarded as simply an "it"; it must be regarded as a system -
or as a conscious entity, a thou". The "systems approach" is new in Western civilization; the
Greeks did not know of it, and even now our culture does not really accept its implications.
The scientific study of systems, called General System Theory or Cybernetics, addresses
itself to the implications of systemic assemblies and of making an (artificial) intelligent
system out of simpler units. One scheme frequently cited in such studies is that of the so-
called "Cellular" or "Tessellation Automata". An Automaton can represent any system that
has fairly predictable successive states. Scientists generally strive to demonstrate that the
entities they observe, including people and societies, are predictable automata. Automata are
not creative by definition, yet cybernetics shows that a "society" of automata can give rise to
intelligence and innovation, even when the members cannot. It is like a mosaic where a
limited range of stones can be used to achieve very complex patterns. Compact, mosaic-like,
patterns of units which retain their autonomous behavior but are affected by their neighbors'
states give rise to overall patterns of behavior which are not predictable from the behaviors of
the individual units, but which are more intricate and intelligent.
This insight is very important whenever schemes of social and cultural unification are
raised. The naive reaction is "the bigger the better", but we should heed the poet's warning
(Stevens, 1955) that "Union of the weakest develops strength, not wisdom". On the other
hand, the compact assembly of many "cells" (in our case as small autonomous communities)
into a "mosaic" of cells (e.g. "neurons") promises not merely strength but the emergence of
greater intelligence, cultural productivity and self-organization ("autopoiesis"). An observer
may not appreciate the virtues of any particular community or culture within the assembly,
but as cybernetics has demonstrated, their juxtaposition is likely to give rise to more intricate
patterns. Jerusalem can exemplify this pattern of unification for the world.

7. Consequent Implications of the symbols.

Further implications can be derived from the primary meanings of the Heavenly
Jerusalem already explored by joining these meanings together and putting them in the
context of real-world problems. The following brief illustrations can be expanded in greater
detail.

7.1(Teaching Wholeness, City Building + Urban Living) - Designing Civilization.

Civilization literally means urban living. Israel, in common with all the contemporary
world, suffers from our incapacity to comprehend and master systems that are as complex as
cities; therefore the need for cohesive design is very great.
 The symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem suggests social goals that are complex, yet
coherent and harmonious - what has already been called "wholes". The orientation for
achieving this goal is likely to combine the principles of "The New Torah of Zion": attention
to urban living and the development of skills akin to the Talmudic excellence in designing
complete and coherent ways of life. The mastery of modern planning-arts and a holistic
technology for material and behavioral issues would be necessary in order to actualize a real
"model society" in Israel, exemplified by its urban environment.

7.2 (Building Bridges to Peace & Joining Together) - Encouraging Federalism.

Many Israeli political scientists have advocated peace settlement through some federal-
type arrangement, but they express concern about the lack of cultural and ideological support
for such ideas among either Israelis or Arabs. In the past, many federation and cantonization
plans have been aired (including by Ben Avi in the 20's; Ben Gurion in the 30's and even
Shim'on Peres in the 70's) but they failed to raise interest and win the support of most Israelis,
let alone the Arabs.
A few years ago this author proposed rather detailed cantonization plans for the whole
Eretz-Yisrael/Palestine area (HayutMan, l975). It was argued, for instance, that politically and
militarily, a 8-12 state canton federation would be less polarized than two states, Israeli and
Palestinian, confronting each other, and the proposed pattern might alleviate the need to re-
divide Jerusalem by making its region into a state. It was realized that there is a prior need to
help people think of the problem in systemic terms rather than in simple categories (of
identity, sovereignty, state, etc.) and to have super-ordinate goals that place value on
pluralism. Above all, a new solution must appeal to the respective Jewish and Palestinian
diasporas no less than the idea of separate national states, or other forms of "national entity",
by having a comprehensible, and more attractive image. These attempts have underlined the
value of the symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
It appears to be no accident that the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
from which the whole concept grew, also included a vision of the future organization of the
whole Land of Israel again into a union of twelve tribal (today we would say "ethnic canton")
units (Ezekiel 47-48). Ezekiel, Mikha and Isaiah placed value not on the might of a new
unified Kingdom, but on higher ideals for Zion in her distinction in cultural and moral
achievements, and the Psalm quoted earlier sees the value of "the built Jerusalem"
(Yerushalayim haBnuyah) specifically as "where the tribes ascend together".
The interesting thing is that this is the type of organization that appears most congenial
for the development of richer civilization (sec. 6.5). This possibility of increasing the
"intelligence" of the land by structuring it as a compact federation of fairly autonomous units
is very appropriate to the Heavenly Jerusalem. It is also legitimate to identify the heavenly
city as a symbol of the "Noosphere" (sec. 8) or the making of the whole earth into a super
conscious being. There appears to be a world-wide trend towards trying new federative
arrangements. Yet while they all have their rationales, one important question has not been
explored - to what extent can these arrangements help to make the whole earth intelligent?
Experimentation is warranted, and encouragement of the M.E. Federation as a seed pattern
which might be reproduced world-wide, is also a good start for the realization of the Heavenly
Jerusalem.
7.3 (City Building, Urban Living & Joining Together) - The Earthly Jerusalem.
The symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem could help to resolve one problem area that can
make or break the peace process, that is the question of the city of Jerusalem. Jewish
reverence for Jerusalem (which is the core of this essay) and excitement over its unification
often blind us to the validity of self rule in the non-Jewish sectors. However, the reality of the
existence of immense ethnic and religious diversity may eventually force all sides to seek
higher types of unification - types of unity-within-diversity such as those found in nature,
rather than as the projections of simplistic concepts. Such an order has been mentioned in the
case of the cybernetic tessellations and the mosaic patterns.
In concrete terms of urban management this may mean neighborhoods that are self-
sufficient in their maintenance, weekly and yearly rhythms, but which are influenced by their
neighbors in the timing of renewal activities and population changes (which may cover
periods of several decades).
A reasonable financial example of what is meant by self-sufficiency is a central collection
of municipal taxes, with a sizeable percentage of the intake going back to each neighborhood,
to be spent, at the discretion of its own council, without detailed budgeting from the central
metropolitan council. The central council would plan and administer metropolitan-scale plans
to be undertaken as joint ventures whenever they impinge upon a neighborhood. Self-
sufficiency would also mean the local availability of the required technical skills, just as it is
desirable to have doctors available locally.
The recommendation for Jerusalem and its sharpening ethnic problems, would be for
division into a fairly large number of neighborhoods each having its own effective council.
There would be over 20 such neighborhoods, including several Arab ones, rather than a single
municipality of East Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem, with its distinct quarters, provides
a model that can be applied further, perhaps over a much larger area than even the currently
expanded Jerusalem municipality, into a whole region, the Judean state mentioned in sec. 7.2.
The resultant rich mosaic would allow many types of dialogues to take place, where the
dialogue can be sustained to the point of producing understandings rather than mere
accommodations.

7.4 (Yahadut & Teaching Wholeness) - Israel and the World.

As stated earlier, "Zionism" is currently getting a bad name in world opinion. For the
non-Jews, Zionism is a very earthly and prosaic goal for a little group who are no longer seen
as underdogs. The search for meaning is still going on in the world, but on a very broad and
therefore shallow front. A time of spiritual hunger has arrived, as prophesied by Amos, but
the searchers rarely turn to Zionism and to Israel.
The bold proclamation of the long-range and timely goals of Zionism, as associated with
the new global vision, would re-introduce a sympathetic interest in our approach. The sort of
mythology outlined in chapter 8 is geared for "New Age" movements and has the new
conception of Zion at its core (7). The intended scientific-cultural enterprise (6.2) and the
"experimental civilization" status of the whole state (7.1) would, once started, make the
Zionist experiment into an important model for study and application in both the
overdeveloped and the underdeveloped countries. Alternative social experiments have been
made in Cuba or China which inspired idealist youth in many places; this is hardly so today.
The intentions expressed in this essay concerning Israel's future would, if fulfilled to any
appreciable extent, make Israel attractive to the best in every land and give the country a new
role.
Currently, for example, Marxism and Socialism have lost their appeal and vitality. This
may be because socialism has kept its sights down to the ground, and neglected the Heavenly
Jerusalem which Socialism knew at the start (sec. 4.9). We can envisage instead the new
Torah from Zion, that is, from the Heavenly Jerusalem and her practical building. I would
venture to name this teaching "the Torah of Yahadut" (communalism) - the amity that is
systematically built through individuation (Hityahadut) - for the whole world.

References.
Ashby, Ross (1956). "Introduction to Cybernetics". London. University paperbacks.
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint. (1963). "City of God". Trasl. Wand.
Avnery, Uri. (1968). "Israel Without Zionists". MacMillan. N.Y.
Baigent, Michael & Leigh, Richard. (1989). "The Temple and the Lodge". Jonathan Cape.
Corgi paper back 1990.
Barne'a, Aharon and Amaliah. (1989). "Lalekhet Shevi" (Captivation). (In Hebrew).
Barnett, H.G. (1953). "Innovation: The Basis for Cultural Change". N.Y. McGraw-Hill.
Beer, Stafford (1975). "Platform for Change". Wiley, N.Y.
Blake, William (1804). "Milton" and "Jerusalem".
Buber, Martin (1957). "Elements of the Inter-human Contact". Psychiatry 20.
Bunyan, John (1678). "The Pilgrim's Progress". numerous editions.
de Chardin, Teilhard (1955). "The Phenomenon of Man". Fontana.
Douglas, Mary (1973). "Natural symbols". Vintage Books.
Doxiadis, Constantin (1968). "Ekistics: An Introduction to the Science of Human
Settlements". London. Hutchinson.
Dunne, John (1972). "The Way of All Earth". N.Y. MacMillan.
Elam, Yig'al (1977). Hibur bTsiyonut ("a treatise in Zionism" - in Hebrew) Emda 24 & 25.
Gove, Walter (1975). "The Labeling Perspective", in Gove (ed): The Labeling of Deviance.
N.Y.
Hame'iri, Avigdor (1941). "Tel Aviv Shel Ma'ala" (The Heavenly Tel Aviv), in Bar-Drora
(ed) "haBonim haRishonim" (the first builders), Meyasde Tel Aviv. In Hebrew.
Hypolite, Jean (1969). "Studies on Marx and Hegel". London.
Hayutman Y.I. (1975). "The Abraham Federation: a proposal for a radical Solution to the
Arab- Israeli Conflict". Reprinted 1992, the Hayut Foundation. POB 8115 Jerusalem
Hubbard, Barbara (1993). "The Revelation: Our Crisis in a birth". Foundation for Conscious
Evolution, P.O.Box 1941, Sonoma CA 95476.
Idel, Moshe (1985) "Jerusalem in Jewish Medieval Thought". In a book by the Ben Tzevi
Foundation (in Hebrew). English version available from the Academy of Jerusalem.
Khayutman (Hayutman), Y.I. (1981): "The Cybernetic Basis for Human Reconstruction: with
Application for the Middle-East". Ph.D. Dissertation, Brunel University, UK.
Lovelock, James (19979). "Gaia: a New Look at Life on Earth". Oxford University Press.
Lovelock, James (1988). "The Ages of Gaia". Oxford University Press.
Michell, John (1972). "The City of Revelation". London, Abacus. Updated version
"Dimensions of Paradise".
Michell, John (1975). "The Earth Spirit". London, Thames and Hudson.
Michell, John (1986). "Dimensions of Paradise". Thames and Hudson.
Michell, John and Rhone, Christine (1991). "Twelve-Tribe Nations and the Science of
Enchanting the Landscape". Thames and Hudson.
Pask, Gordon (1975). "Conversation, Cognition and Learning". Amsterdam, Elsevier.
Pask, Gordon (1976). "Conversation Theory: Application in Education and Epistemology".
Amsterdam, Elsevier.
Pask, Gordon (1981). "Organizational Closure of Potentially Conscious Systems", in Zeleny
(ed) Autopoiesis: A Theory of Living Organization. New York, North Holland.
Robinson, John (1989). "Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry". London, Arrow
Books.
Smuts, Jan (1926). "Holism and Evolution". 1973 reprint, Greenwood Press.
Stevens, Wallace (1955). "Like Decorations in a Nigger's Cemetry" in the Collected Poems.
London.
Stringer, E.T. (1976). "The Secret of the gods", London, Abacus.
Trungpa, Chögyam. (1988). "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior". Shambhala Books.
Yaron, Zvi (1974). "The Philosophy of Rabbi Kuk". Jerusalem. (in Hebrew).

Note: No references are given here to the numerous mentions in this essay to notions from the
Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and Midrashim and from Kabbalistic sources. Primary sources in
English are scant. On the whole, these also represent a different universe of discourse, best
accessible through the Hebrew language.

Notes.
(1) Characteristically, while the two movements appear to their adherents as mutually
contradicting, from a perspective on another level they may be saying the same
thing in different, and potentially complementary, ways. Verbally (logologically, in
the sense of Kenneth Burke) "settlement" and "peace-making" or "reconciliation"
are much the same thing. Both land and a conflict can be settled. While some
people see the land as primary, others see the people. Some people like to draw
moral distinctions between preference to the land or to the people, but for those
who appreciate integration, both the land and the minds of the people should be
settled harmoniously (the Shalom-Shalem or "holistic peace discussed in the paper).
(2) A "trapping state", in cybernetic usage, is the response pattern of a system that is in
a deteriorating situation and which tries to correct it by employing a pre-
programmed repertoire of corrective moves which only tend to worsen the situation.
(This is in line with what has often been called the counter intuitive behavior of
complex systems -- when pressed, a system may not only not yield, but may
overreact against the pressure with traditional responses). A vicious circle is thus
set up that is likely to cause the breakdown of the system. In such cases, an outside
observer sees that the system has become coupled to a part of its environment,
which now behaves like a "shadow" of which the system has not learnt to be
cognizant.
(3) These categories do not coincide, and it is more accurate and relevant to divide
these two camps to "of Islamic countries origin" (yotz'ei artzot hamizrah which is a
common appellation) and "of Christian countries origin". This accurate latter
appellation is not used at all, and this marks a particular blind spot in Israeli self-
perception, whose chiefs (in institutions and the academia) are generally secular
Jews of Western descent. The secularity is prevalent in this century in traditionally
Christian countries but it is not so in Islamic countries ("traditionally Moslem
countries" are still very much Moslem countries).
(4) The Law of Requisite Variety, (Ashby, 1956), has been much cited by Stafford
Beer when discussing solutions to the world's problems (Beer, 1975). Pask's
constructs (sec. 3.2) are illustration of the requisite dialogical matching of the
answer to the question.
(5) The Hashmona'im Kings of the Second Temple period coerced the people of
Edomea, Philistina and the Galilee to convert to Judaism. The Roman-Byzantine
empire later forbade Jews to live in Jerusalem and later all people had to be
Christians. Many converted to Islam after the Moslem conquest. It is evident, from
Jewish customs (e.g. candle lighting on Friday night and Hannuka) that survived till
recently and from recent genetic studies that many of the Palestinians are of Jewish
origin.
(6) The word "Myth" has very different connotations for different schools of thought,
in some negative and in some positive. Thus Barthes (1973) shows how the
concepts of the bourgeoisie are "myths", but presumably his own (largely Marxist)
analysis and beliefs would seem to him and his followers as perfectly rational.
Others would see Marxism and even rationalism as fantastic myths. In other words,
"myths" are generally the beliefs of the others, be they respected or ridiculed. Some
forms of psychotherapy and of mysticism try to reveal one's own beliefs as myths -
and a genuine conversation may do the same, which is perhaps why such
conversations are so resisted and rare.
(7) To take a very small-scale example: There is a Talmudic Saying: "Whoever says
something by the name of its originator - brings redemption to the world", which
links the awe-inspiring concept of "Redemption" with very feasible and practical
behavior. The Talmudic study is based on this approach, and all the discussions
pertaining to current rulings quote opinions of sages who quote the scriptures and
derive from them pertinent new insights. The study of the Talmud, which is
traditionally viewed in Judaism as the greatest religious desideratum (and the major
activity in paradise), becomes therefore a conversational ritual where the students
take the roles of former sages and reproduce their cognition, making those former
sages practically immortal. Somewhat similar standards are current in the academic
domain, especially in scientific research, with its system of citations. The
redemptive scenario implied here, as in this whole article, is that redemption will
come when current pressing problems will be discussed through "strict
conversations" that strive for reaching understandings with the rigor of traditional
Talmudic discourse or current scientific standards.
(8) The original name "Plishtim" meant "invaders" (from the West). The name came
later to mean "enemies of culture", but the present native Arabs of the land were
ignorant of both meanings.
(9) Rather than cite scholarly evidences for the influence of Jewish mysticism upon
the rise of Islam (which may raise resistance), we may quote a modern American-
Moslem Sufi master (Lewis, 1975) who describes in detail a contemplative ascent
 to the Heavenly Jerusalem undertaken by the Moslem champion Salladin.
10) Presumably Stringer's estimate on mid 22th century as the time for reaching the
stable human population of the planet is based on demographic considerations. It
may take a little longer to achieve the economic zero-growth advocated by the
environmentalists. It is remarkable that these estimates tally fairly well with the
Jewish calender that the "global Shabbat" will start at 2240 CE.
11) Especially famous is a letter of the founder of Hasidism -- Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
-- which tells about an "Aliya" that he had, in which he was given to understand his
Messianic role. There are many detailed Kabbalistic manuals for the practicing of
Aliya. Sec. 4.7 mentions the similar ascent of Mohammed, which brought the
beginning of Islam; a similar notion of ascent was prevalent among the Christian
mystics and there are many manuals for it, notably Saint-John-on- the-Cross's
"Ascent of Mount Carmel" and Ramon Lull's "Ladders of Heaven" as well as the
sixth century "Ladders of Paradise".
12) The cubic form was suggested as common to the aspirations of Jews (Teffilin),
Christians (the City of Revelation) and Moslems (the Ka'aba). Such a design is
presented by Hayutman (1994).
References to the Notes:
Barthes, Raymon (1973). "Mythologies". London. Paladin.
Hayutman, Y. I. (1994). "A Feasible Pattern for the Future Temple of Jerusalem". in R.
Trappl (ed) Cybernetics and Systems '94. World Scientific Publishing.
Lewis, Samuel, (1975). "The Jerusalem Trilogy: Song of the Prophets". The Sufi Islamia
Ruhaniat Society, Prophecy Pressworks, Novato California.

Appendix "A" - A Future Mythology

In the following is outlined one mythological construction, or meta-historical scheme for Yahadut
which is designed to complement, or supplant, the current "New Age" and "Deep Ecology"
mythologies. Whereas these mythologies (which have also many Jewish adherents worldwide) are
often antisemitic in their roots, the new Yahadut myth draws its main inspirations from the Judaic
tradition and places the Heavenly Jerusalem (and the city of Jerusalem) as its main focus.

1 The meta-historical frame:

A few thousands of years ago, Time (in the sense of human temporal consciousness and search
for the meaning of Life) was created (formed through human speech and heavenly/comprehensive
inspiration). Taking the Hebrew Biblical tradition, this event happened some 5,750 years ago and is
called "The Creation of Adam", the potential, unified humankind. This creation has thus set upon earth
the global accounting system for finding the meaning of human Life, the inner concern of every
person, which evolved through religious accounts and later by academic research programs. The
Yahadut adopted the traditional Jewish account, that this is a six-stage sequence of "days of the Lord"
lasting a thousand years each (Ps. 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8), or three stages of two thousands years each
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 94:1) of : 1) bewilderment (or Tohu), 2) Torah and 3) "the days of the Messiah".
Our present time is in that sixth millennium, when the unified humankind properly called "Adam" is
forming. This process too has its stages, or "Hours". In one of them, the materials are shaped and a
Golem is formed, in another a divine breath is added and Adam becomes a "Living Nefesh" (Nefesh
Haya). In other hours multiplication is achieved, and the entanglement with the Trees occurs, which
heightened the drama to a climax. We are now just a few years from this great "hour".

2 The Drama:
It is the story of the transformation from Olam haZeh (of agreement or convention) to the Olam
haBah (of understanding and co-creation).
This transformation, really from a Golem to a conscious Adam, is a dramatic process of
metamorphosis, parallel to that which proceeds from a larva through Golem (pupae, chrysalis) to a
winged creature. It is followed by learning stages of how to behave in a godly manner, first in
procreation, then in co-creation. The temptations and the pitfalls grow increasingly, until either a
mishap occurs, associated with the Tree of Knowledge, leading to a global conflagration or exile, or a
safe passage into the cosmic Shabbat and the "end of Time" - when the global riddle of the meaning of
life reaches its answer (Teshuvah).
While the myriad particular stories can take place everywhere on earth (and in heaven!),
Jerusalem is the distinguished and prominant stage for helping the various human cultures and trends
to become well characterized.

3 The Dramatic Characters:

A: The earth, developing through stages of 1) material formation (Eretz-earth), which for human
accounting is a given fact; 2) Living creature - Biosphere ("ecomanistically" - Gaia; Biblically -
Adamah); 3) Settled earth - Technosphere (ecomeni/oikomenus, Biblically - Tevel, which can become
associated with either Jerusalem or Babel). 4) the Noosphere, which can act as a Universal
demonstration facility, Jerusalem-Yorushalem, perhaps a universal actor or indwelling of the Creator.
B: Humankind, developing through stages of 1) physical formation, which for human accounting is a
given fact; 2) cultural (civic) formation, which is happening as stage 3 for the earth, and is thus the
period of intense confrontation between the two; 3) emergence of a unified ADAMIND (i.e. a
"Psychological Individual" (P-Ind) made of all humankind within the "Global Brain", an "ADAM-
Ind"), with humankind as co-creator who can improve own formation and the earthly environment.
This last stage merits the name "Adam" (àãí-understood as the sequence of "Abraham", "David"
and "Messiah"). Adam has two more aspects which can be projected as outside and separate
or integrated:
C: Eve (Biblically "Havah", meaning "experience" or "having experienced).
D: "Serpent" (Christologically, Satan; Biblically Nahash ("Guesswork", shoddy cognition).
E: Other Biblical characters as archetypes, including the 12 "Sons of Israel" Zodiac of tribal
archetypes.
The main character, however, offered as model for followers of that teaching was the
"The Messaye'a" (literally "the Helper"). This figure was modelled on the figure of the
Messiah (or Christ) offered in various Jewish and Christian esoteric teachings, but again of
collective character rather than a unique and deified (or idolized) person. The intention was
that each initiate would become a Messiah, and that this collective entity could operate by the
unique collective joint cognition-conation taught by Yahadut (called in Kabbalah Yehidah).

4 The Jerusalem Global Stages:

 The Yahadut identified Jerusalem as the natural stage for the exploits of the new global Messaye'a
for the following reasons:
Geologically, it is at the junction of three tectonic plates, and geographically it is at the junction
of three continents and the middle point for the five settled continents (the ecumeni). Archaeologically
it in the region of the earliest city (Jericho).
Culturally, Jerusalem is the symbolic city par-excellance, occupying a special place in human
consciousness. It is the mythical stage of the formation of Adam. The most unique and mysterious
human nationality - Israel - is thoroughly and inextricably connected with Jerusalem. The long-
anticipated ingathering of the exiled and oppressed Jews into the land of Israel (expedited by the
cataclysms of the WW-II and the holocaust) to become a new nation was marked by the sign of
Jerusalem and thus called Zionism. When thrust violently into the resisting environment held for
centuries by Arab Islam, Zionism generated shock waves and the Jewish-Arab hostilities rose from
Jerusalem to become a permanent preoccupation (even possession) in the emerging mind of
humankind. The epitome of this conflict is Jerusalem.
With all this (positive and negative) cultural "investment", Jerusalem can become the focus for
the transformation of humankind - and that what the Messiah legends always implied, with the
Heavenly Jerusalem as the Messiah's bride. It is the natural focal point for the HEJERA - the Heavenly
Jerusalem Association (sea below) - and can become the focal point for initiations to the co-creator
status for the Mesaye'as, and possibly for all humankind.
5 Concerns: The Crises and the Christalization:
The Yahadut warns of several crises which are on the way: aborted transformation and wrong
choices. The remedy advocated is for processes of "Christalizations" as coherent (crystal) ordering of
messianic (Christal) inklings in the womb-template (chrysalis) of understandings rather than confused
aggregations based on agreements and conventions of the ecumenical Golem ecumenos. Particular
crises are:
* Aborted transformations through 1) human incompetence: nuclear war, ecological disasters; 2)
human hubris and deception: ego-centered capitalist economics; geo-centered fascistic-ecomanic
paganism; imperialistic "Roman" ("Rome", for øåí àðùéí and for øîéä) Ecumenism; 3) through
war in heaven: astroid collision; Satanic possessions...
* After birth succeeds, wrong elections can still maim the infantile Adamind: 1) infantile-
galactic infatuations; 2) rationalistic fixations or scientistic crucification of the Tree of
Knowledge. 3) Premature christalization under simplistic theological formulations.
6 The Palestinian special concern of the Messaye'a:
The Yahadut focuses a special attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In its
formulation, "Israel" stands for "Is-Real" whereas "Filastin" (the accepted Arab name) stands
for "Falsity", especially of the "philistine" type and, further, the Midrash of Palestine-ôìùèéï as
"Palash Satan" (ôìù-ùèï) "Satan Invaded". The idea was that just because Zionism seemed
destined to usher the whole world's redemption, Satan saw to it to entangle Zionism with the
native people of the land (òîé äàøõ - Ame ha'Aretz) in a nasty blood feud that would make
Zionism despised and abhorred in the world. Thus the devil insinuated to the native Ame
Ha'aretz self identity as Palestinians-Philistines who strive to their state and to Jerusalem in a
shadowy caricature of Zionism. Yahadut advocates that the suffering of the Palestinians is
real and is a festering ground for any Satanic intent and that the solution for it is to solve the
problem in an economically and culturally just way. It points out to its adherents an opportune
challenge - that the problems of the Palestinians are very small in real terms compared with
their importance in the world's eyes: no greater than of a single slum neighborhood in any of
the scores of the Third World festering metropoli, and could be solved by a single modest-size
but enlightened global organization - namely by the Messaye'as. The success of the
Messaye'as' effort in Israel would establish it in the world's eyes as the proper global Messiah
(e.g. the Messiah is born in a hovel in a refugee camp at Bethlehem, etc...)
7 The Jerusalem Dramatization:
When this publication draws fairly positive response, allowing for the preparation of multi-media
gospels of Yahadut, a dialogical/conversational "Co-Akedah" scenario can be developed for various
spiritual exercises and dramas with appeal to the native people of the whole Land of Israel.
The name Israelis use for Jerusalem is "Yerushalayim", which is in a dual form used for paired
entities. It also contains the word "Yerusha", in Hebrew "inheritance". So Jerusalem is a twinned
inheritance of the Children of Abraham, whose names in the Hebrew Bible are Yishmael - which
means "will listen to", and Yitshak (or Yis'hak) - which means "will laugh" (or "will play"). In line
with the understandings about the heavenly Jerusalem/Yerushalayim shel Ma'ala as the assembly of
understandings and of transcendence, this twin characterization is a specification for the twin spiritual
disciplines needed for reaching and inheriting this city - listening to the other to forming
understanding and humor (positing "You-More") for transcending ego-based boundaries.
The images of the Gates of Jerusalem as the entry point of the redeeming understandings and of
the Temple Mount as the place for Co-Akedah was developed. We refer here only to the gates image.
There are "twelve gates to the city" of the Heavenly Jerusalem, allowing a dozen archetypical
characterizations for the various users, and many stories (e.g. in the Zohar Hadash, Noah) that chart
spiritual exercises involving the gates of Jerusalem.

8 The Twin gates:

Of the eight gates nowadays in Jerusalem, one is closed - Sha'ar haRahamim (the gate of Mercy)
which leads to the Temple Mount and through which the Messiah is supposed to enter the city. The
form of this gate is of a twin gate whose doors are blocked. This is a very concrete symbol of the
current situation and of the Messianic hopes. We may call the twin doors the door of Yishmael
(Ishmael) and the door of Yitshak (Isaac).

8.1 The Yishmael/El HEJERA Gate.

Yishmael is associated with Islam, which began its calendar and its redemptive account from the
Hegira, namely the migration, of the prophet Mohammed. The semitic culture, characteristic of the
Arabs even more than of the Jews, places particular emphasis on semantics and on the audile modes of
speech and of listening, and it is appropriate to name the means of the movement of the heavenly
Jerusalem in honor of brother Yishmael. Thus the new Zionist organization for the seekers of the
Heavenly Jerusalem, especially from Arab and Moslem backgrounds was posited as the HEJERA (The
Heavenly Jerusalem Association) and its intelligent realizations in electronic entertainment and
learning media which employ conversational techniques as El-HEJERA (the Electronic Heavenly
Jerusalem Agency).

8.2 The Yitshak Gate.

The complementary element ("software complement") of the El HEJERA is programs to
transcend conflicts and "wicked problems" (such as social problems, problems which do not yield to
the engineering approach) by roleplaying and countering gravity by humor.
 By utilizing the more sophisticated Kabbalistic accounts of the story of the Trees in Genesis,
rather than the simplistic Christian account (the "original sin" doctrine), we can derive redemptive
scenarios in any degree of elaboration and rigor to address almost any aspect of the contemporary
world problem. These scenarios, in turn, can be the story line for any number of computerized
games/training facilities for educating people and motivating them to solve these problems.
It will be natural for the HEJERA to build the perfect arena (Beit haBehirah - the palace of
choice) in Jerusalem and to organize the world electronic Olympic games in it.

9 Epilogue.
We have all been journeying
Towards the Heavenly Jerusalem
For about two thousand years
perhaps for four, or even more.
Presently our feet are standing by the gates:
And overhead the inscription says:
"IF YOU WILL, THIS IS NOT A LEGEND"
It is Herzel's OldNew formula to utter!
The gates are opening - shall we enter?

Appendix "B" - A Redemptive Scenario for the HEJERA

In the following, one "redemptive scenario" is outlined. It is just a very particular demonstration
of the application of the principles discussed so far - and a rather fancy one, given from the
perspective of a few decades into the future. Other, more detailed and grounded scenarios can be
developed.

1 The HEJERA Design:

The publication of improved versions of this outline of Yahadut by the Academy of Jerusalem
spawned interest in various circles, notably among dramatists and designers of computer games. The
various HEJERA Shows and the initial computerized HEJERA Games gradually increased the
constituency and the Messaye'as to several scores of thousands of very able people around the world,
including hundreds of Palestinian Arabs, and financial resources which allowed the launching of the
HEJERA venture.
The HEJERA corporation was registered in Wall Street to issue its 12 "tribal" types of stocks,
sold to people who wanted to identify with the New Israel and become the builders of the New
Jerusalem. The corporation proceeded to buy up real estate in, and to contract to execute the services
of the governments and authorities that have jurisdiction over the whole Land of Israel (the State of
Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and possibly a Palestinian State/authority) and to produce
the HEJERA Games and kindred software and virtual equipment.
Among the buyers of the HEJERA stocks were Freemason lodges worldwide which were looking
for a new context for doing their charitable work which allowed the possibility of accomplishing their
historic avowed aim - to build the Temple of Jerusalem for the benefit of all humankind. Other
prominent groups were of Fundamentalist Christians and of investment houses in the Gulf States.
 Though many of the initial investors did it out of ideological rather than commercial calculations,
enough investment capital was generated to produce a variety of first rate programs and games on CD-
ROM interactive multi-media shows to tap the huge world markets for training and spiritual
development programs. The brand games, however, used the specific history of Jerusalem for complex
political and spiritual role-playing games, so that people could play out all the issues of Jerusalem and
bring them to extreme situations and sometimes to glorious resolutions. Special pilgrimage journeys
were held for people from the whole world who had trained upon the HEJERA facilities for co-
creators and now came to Israel and to Jerusalem to do their finals.
With rising revenues and added members-investors, the HEJERA was growing into a global
corporation with an intricate ownership structure based on the Biblical stipulation for the inheritance
of the Tribes of Israel and the Jubilee law for a periodic New Deal. At that stage, a share was held also
for each resident of the whole land, citizens of each of the sovereign states in the land and those who
can validly claim to belong to them. As the HEJERA sales increased and the value of the HEJERA
stocks rose, many of the people of these countries asked for their shares. They enjoyed a substantial
added income, which for some of the poor people was their only income. The beautifully printed and
personalized HEJERA share-participation certificates became a standard framed exhibit in both Ramat
Aviv Penthouses and refugee camp hovels, where they represented the best hope for change.

2 The New Jerusalem in Action:

With growing success of the HEJERA products, growing value of the stocks and growing
membership, the board of the HEJERA (which by then included most of the decision makers in the
relevant states anyway) made the ultimate bid - to build their central facility, the Temple of the Elect
(Beit haBehirah) as a giant cube, called also the New Jerusalem, astride the Temple Mount of
Jerusalem, above its existing structures 12.
Eventually the bid was accepted, even at no cost apart from revenuesharing, and the New
Jerusalem facility was built as a global spiritual service station or womb, a cellular matrix of
individual cubicals for personal transformation and joint arena for theophany (encountering God).
Each month now, some twelve thousand people are processed by the HEJERA Process, a 144,000
strong Messianic New Israel each year. These universal-Zionist pioneers sacrifice their material
possessions and self-centered aspirations to form new world-wide distributed communities or "tribes"
(.e.g, "The Menashe of the Year 5,890") that serve the world in the particular coherent joint way that
was revealed to them on that occasion. With the "Christalization" of this new leadership factor within
humankind, all world crises are expected soon to be overcome, the perversion of the Tree of
Knowledge to be averted, and plenitude and peace on Earth are being assured as the Cosmic Shabbat
is about to enter.

Appendix "C" - Conversation Theory.

1. Backgound: Buber's insights were eventually operationalized (Laing et. al., 1966) for an
Interpersonal Perception Method (IPM) for individual interactions on personal topics. But there is still
need to extend dialogical technics to group processes and cultural issues.
A likely model for extending the analysis of human interactions also for cultures and groups, is
the Conversation Theory developed by the cybernetician Gordon Pask, which has been used to
develop educational programs and for experimental research in the behavioral sciences. Conversation
Theory (Pask 1975, 1976) regards social systems as symbolic, language-oriented systems where
responses depend on one person's interpretation of another person's behavior, and where meanings are
agreed through conversations. But since meanings are agreed, and the agreements can be illusory and
transient, scientific research requires stable reference points in human transactions to allow for
reproducible results. Pask found these points to be the understandings which arise in the conversations
between two participating individuals, and which he defined rigourously.
Pask's definition of understandings and the significance of their stability comes from cybernetic
theory, but these are intuitively clear - when two people come to an agreement based on
understanding, then even if the agreement was built upon transient elements which changed, the
conversants can re-create from their understandings new agreements to replace the old ones. The
makers of the agreements can regulate the stability of their transactions without being dependent on
their details.
2. Main Concepts: Conversaton Theory regards the cognitive domain - and thus also the cultural
domain - as stratified into concepts of different logical levels (or "Logical Types" in Russel's sense)
that require different types of language to discuss them. Thus Pask regards individual cognition to be
made by populations of reproducible "concepts" which are controlled (reproduced, edited) by higher-
level concepts he calls "memories" which in turn belong to (are controlled, edited, reproduced, by)
higher level concepts he calls "P-Individuals" (for "Psychological Individuals"). Discussions between
individuals are conducted on several logical levels: they use an object language to activate concepts
and demonstrate them, but use conversational languages with questions, answers and commands to
talk about concepts and to explain them. Agreements can thus be produced (as new analogy relations)
between concepts when their explanations match. Understandings require answering "why" questions
through discussions of explanations of explanations and comparing them. In other words,
understandings are evidenced by the ability of the conversing parties to produce explanations of self
and other's explanations. Since the conversing parties (the P-Individuals) have named identities (self-
reference) the conversation uses self- and other-references. In other words, they must engage in an "I-
You", and not just "I-IT", transactions.
Pask regards Conversation as being mediated by "Language Processors" (or "L-Processors) that
allow self- and other-references. To secure and nurture the production of understandings in an
educational context, he has devised a special type of L-Processor called "Conversational Domain"
which allows the exteriorization of complex cognitive processes and the detection of understanding.
We may say that conversational domains are recordings of fruitful past conversations and that
they provide the symbolic environment in which the original insights can be reproduced and further
conversations can take place and evolve. Unlike conventional recordings and curiculums,
Conversational Domains are not linear, and the student can choose his route through them.
III. A strict conversation, typical of Pask's research work takes place within the supportive
environment of a conversational domain, has the facilities to display information of descriptions and
rules plus of several levels in a controlled environment. Such Conversational Domains are organized
hierarchically of the following components:
1. A family of "entailment structures" which are like maps of topic names, showing the
connections whereby any topic can be derived from other topics (specified relations) in that domain.
The topics themselves are learnable relations. 2. Sets of "task structures" for building models or
performing other activities which can produce the prescribed topic relations. There are usually many
different ways to satisfy a relation and the stored programs are only illustrative examples; 3. Actual
concrete media ("modelling facilities") in which task activities can be enacted or executed as models.
 The two participants begin a strict conversation by agreeing on an aim for reaching operational
knowledge of some topic on the "map" (Entailment Mesh) of the connections between the topics.
Begining with only some vague appreciation of some preliminary topic, the conversation advances
from one topic to another in a series of stages. In each stage, a topic is first marked as agreed between
the participants and then as understood. Topics get marked as understood at a rate and in a
configuration which is particular to that conversation.
Agreement is reached when one learner's demonstration of how to satisfy a topic requirement is
consistent with the other's. But success in making the demonstration does not prove conception of a
stable procedure for the topic, intrinsic to the mind of the learner.
Understanding the topic amounts to having a stable concept of it, one that can be reproduced and
built from other concepts already in the student's mental repertoire. A topic is marked as understood
by the participants only after agreement has been reached on both the adequacy of their concepts and
the validity of their derivations of the concept. Understanding also amounts to answering a why
question -- why was this answer preferred, and why is the answer couched in the specific terms used.
Comparison of the two different derivations is especially significant when each participant inhabits a
different universe of discourse and their agreement about a topic creates an analogy relation for that
topic between these two universes. In this case, the understanding of the analogy relation involves
each one adopting the other's perspective so as to see that relation from his world.
What has been built through these procedures is an evolving conversation which can advance
from one verifiable understanding to another, leaving recorded traces that can be used for the study
and reproduction of that conversation, and as data for research about cognitive styles and learning
strategies.
Research has shown, for example, that a mismatch of cognitive styles among the participants
almost guarantees that hardly any learning or understanding will occur, while matching improves
learning dramatically. Awareness of personal style can lead to awareness of the styles of others and
the possibilities of matching them. In many cases users of experimantal conversational domains
acquire an enhanced capacity for learning.
4. Generalizations: To appreciate the main implications of Conversation Theory in our present
context, we should understand who are the participants whom Pask calls "Psychological Individuals"
or "PIndividuals", as distinct from the "Mechanical individuals" or M-Individuals.
P-Individuals are the "persons" who converse and M-Individuals are the matrices or media in
which the P-Individuals are embodied and "breed", and in which they become observable. For a
person, the MIndividual is indeed his brain and body, and the P-Individuals are the various
"personalities" which that person exhibits. But Pask's formulation allows the generalization of these
entities beyond the confines of the individual human being.
P-Individuals are invisible and are not material. They are languageoriented, self- and other-
referential, self-reproducing systems of beliefs. P-Individuals may be human personalities, social
roles, theatrical characters, religious orders, scientific research programs or even whole cultures. They
can be observed and/or communicated with only through language processors (such as M-Individuals,
but also various artifactual media), yet are inherently "processor independent" and can even be
encoded in a static inscription.
P-Individuals can undergo development only when they are executed in suitable language
processors which have common aims - that is, a topic that is appreciated and desired by them but that
is not known by them operationally - and when they fully enter a conversation. A successful
conversation that leads to understandings is a P-Individual in its own right.
Claiming wide general validity to these constructs, Pask does not equate the P-Individuals with
individual brains but defines them as cognitive programs (characterized by self-reference and
organizational closure) which are executed in brains as well as in other suitable media (which Pask
calls "Language Processors"). Several P-Individuals, even conflicting ones, can "reside" in one brain,
whereas a single PIndividual can "reside" in several, even many, brains and their extensions in various
media. This is the case of cultural entities, which are not just shared concepts but coherent systems of
beliefs. Such belief systems, as P-Individuals, are "individuated" through organizational closure and
self-reference, even self-reflection, and they control their own distinct "social memories" which, in
turn, reproduce their own concepts and produce new ones in a distinct and characteristic style. Types
of P-Individuals include human personalities, theatrical and social roles, schools of thought, systems
of belief and human cultures. Scientific disciplines (or more precisely, scientific "schools" or "research
programs" in the sense of Lakatosh, 1973) are such P-Individuals who have their own characteristic
concepts and often even distinct languages, even while sharing the same facilities (libraries,
computing media and academic framework).
It is evidently not easy to build agreements among the many P-Individuals that comprise the
different schools of the social and human sciences about the concepts pertaining to social discourse
and its (linguistic-symbolic) means. The suggestions in the paper as extensions of Conversation
Theory will need the agreement of the larger social science disciplines to win currency. We claimed
there that cultural explanations of self and other cultures are given by "myths" and that full
conversations between cultures are possible (though deficient conversations are often dangerous, even
fatal, to their myths), and that successful such conversations breed cultural innovations (Barnett,1952)
that are novel, yet consistent with the traditions and myths of the culture.
While it is not easy to generalize from these small-scale contrivances to the processes happening
within society at large, some generalizations to anthropological studies of whole (primitive) societies
have been made *. These examples can help establish the socio-cultural analogues to the components
of a Conversational Domain. We may thus assert that a whole coherent network of such symbols is
essentially a "mythology", and the analogues to topic names are the cultural symbols while the
analogues of the task structures are rituals. Obviousely, further generalizations to modern societies
may be very worthwhile.
5 Novel Conversational Environments: Originally the concept of modelling facilities was
derived from the theater and its stage settings as well as military gaming simulations. Note that drama
and the stage were the traditional media to enact cultural myths and they have burgeoned into movies
(which probably lower the possibility of identification and participation) and are now developing into
the new media, such as interactive CD-ROM role-playing games and virtual realities which hold a
promise of greater participation. Pask's early work employed various purpose-made analogue
computers. But it is the current proliferation of multi-media machines and electronic information
processors into the laboratory and the home on the one hand, and the development of psychological
and social simulations - the specification of which are typical "task structures" - and their translation
into plays and games of many kinds on the other, which promise to make modelling facilities common
as everyday realities and extensions of the brain in McLuhan's sense. Building roleplaying mythical
environments according to the specifications of CT for a conversational domain will allow the
formation of cultural understandings.
In our context of renewing Zionism, it is most instructive that the founder of modern Zionism, Dr.
Herzel, was an accomplished dramatist and his plays were the most popular in Vienna of his time.
Herzel's genious enabled his translation of a set of ideas from a political manifesto and a utopian novel
into the stage of the Zionist Congress and then into the Zionist organizations and eventually the State
of Israel. The main symbol Herzel used, the very name "Zion" which carried a tremendous set of
associations, tied the new movement to the whole of Jewish history and myth and it still allows, we
now claim, its further extension into world civilization.
The modelling facilities of a conversational domain are only simulations of M-Individuals, since
they are not self-organizing. There are, however, artifacts that serve as M-Individuals and which are
quite important for our discussion. These are our cities. Viewed inclusive of their inhabitants and
builders, their concrete structures carry symbolic messages for their populations and embody their
cultural values; while their layouts channel social transactions. They are the media in which
civilization is embedded, and from which "civilization" got its name. We may say that cities has been
the L-Processors in which civilization was embodied and has evolved. Nowadays civilization is
rapidly changing by being embodied in an emerging communications and computation media, and this
is happening quite haphazardly and in the manner criticized by Buber of increasing "I-It"
communications and substituting them to "I-You" communications. On the other hand, the concept of
"Jerusalem" as the city of "showing wholess" discussed in here is the very symbol of the city as a
learning and conversational environment, whereas the Heavenly Jerusalem, understood as "the City of
Understandings", is the epitomy of such a city and its realization is thus the ideal setting of a
conversational environment for cultures.

(*) The study of the Tsembaga tribe of New Guinea (Rappoport, 1969), which
showed a society in an ecological balance maintained by a ritual cycle, was
analysed by Pask and his students. They have shown that this traditional society
has the exact basic structure of a P-Individual and its environment acts as a
Language Processor. Symbolic acts as the erection of a rotten fence and the
planting or uprooting of a certain tree signal the onset of war and peace, the
slaughter of pigs and the copulation of people. This is a stable, non-learning
society. But analysis of the "Cargo Cults" of Melanesia (Worsley, 1957) which
showed remarkable social innovation in devising new (albeit ineffective) rituals,
and of connected nativistic (yet effectively modernising) movements (Schwartz,
1962) and other social innovations (Barnett, 1952) has shown them as cases of
"Conversational Breeding" on a social scale (Pask, 1976; ch. 10).

References to Appendix:
Laing, Ronald, D., Philipson, H. and Lee, A.R., (1966). "Interpersonal Perception - A Theory
and a method of Research". London, Tavistock; N.Y., Springer. Penguin Books, 1970.
Lakatos, I. (1973). "History of the Science and its Rational Reconstruction", in Boston Studies
in the Philosophy of Science VIII. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Rappoport, Roy (1969). "Pigs for the Ancestors". Yale U. Press.
Schwarz, Theodore (1962). "Palian Movement of the Admiralty Island". Anthropological
Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol 20, Part 2.
Worsley, Peter (1957). "The Trumpet Shall Sound: a study of "cargo" cults in melanesia".
MacGibbon & Kee. Revised paperback edition, Paladin. 1970.