Cult News

Madonna is out plugging her new CD and increasingly strange beliefs, reported within USA Today.

The 44-year-old mother of two who started her pop career in the 80s belongs to a controversial group the “Kabbalah Center,” which has also been called a “cult.”

Why is it that celebrities like Madonna seem to think their talent to entertain, is somehow accompanied with a gift for religious discernment? Maybe it’s just the byproduct of spiritual sycophants?

USA Today reports about “Madonna’s epiphany,” but her claimed insight looks more like a blind spot.

The singer says, “We live in a society that seems to value only physical things, only ephemeral things…We’re obsessed.”

Yet it’s she that seems “obsessed” with bizarre beliefs that include the metaphysical properties and supernatural powers of bottled “Kabbalah water.”

Madonna, once known for her strident cynicism, apparently buys it.

In her interview the star claimed, “Every person on the planet is living in a kind of bubble, trapped into programmed thinking.”

But isn’t it Madonna herself that increasingly seems to inhabit just such a “bubble,” “trapped” within “cult”-like “programmed thinking”?

Perhaps the pop diva should consider bursting that “bubble” before preaching to others.

After all, wasn’t it Madonna that once sang “papa don’t preach”?

Why doesn’t the star practice what she sings?

Madonna claims that her “songs are about letting go of illusions.” And insists, “I was guided by selfish desire…but I’ve woken up.”

Berg, a former insurance salesman, who founded the so-called “Kaballah Center,” apparently sounded that “wake up call.” His teachings have been derided by reputable Kaballah scholars around the world and called the “pop-minded bastardization of a sacred text.”

This latest “vogue” or makeover by Madonna appears to be a “pose” of spiritual maturity. And “illusions” and “selfish desire” appear to animate, what increasingly looks like Madonna’s mid-life crisis.

She claims, “Studying has given me clarity.”

However, it doesn’t appear that the diva has studied the deeply troubled history of the Kaballah Center.

Doesn’t she care about the many former members of the group that have alleged serious abuse? Or is apathy the byproduct of her newfound spirituality?

Wouldn’t someone sincere have sympathy for those abused, instead of selfishly refusing to look outside their “bubble”?

Madonna rambled to USA Today, “I’m a speck, an atom. Everything physical is an illusion, but it’s there to guide us or test us or deter us. Our job is to navigate through this world while understanding the only thing that matters is the state of our soul…Any success I have is a manifestation of God. It’s my ego that wants to claim ownership. It’s hubris, arrogance and greed.”

This rambling stream of consciousness itself sounds a bit like “hubris” and “arrogance.”

Madonna seems caught up in a kind of spiritual narcissism. And like so many seemingly rudderless stars attempting to “navigate through this world,” beached on the rocks of another celebrity strewn “cult.”

Her odyssey comes across as both self-indulgent and self-important.

Perhaps a good dose of her once famous cynicism is in order. Then maybe this middle-aged “Material Girl” can grow up and move on with her life outside the “bubble” that apparently blown around her.