Heaven's Criminal Code

About the Book

One of the most disturbing ideas known to our human imaginations is that of the Final Judgment, the accounting we are called to give at the end of our lives. Born in the depths of our consciousness, this notion of a final judgment is a consequence of our perception that we have priorities and goals in our lives. It is a measurement of just how successful or unsuccessful we have been in the venture of life.

This book suggests a possible set of ethics for the individual vis-à-vis his or her own self—ethics that reflect the obligations life imposes on the living.

Written in the form of a Criminal Code, this book both in structure and terminology mimic legal documents.

The prime goal is to call attention to the deep psychic fusion between what we believe to be divine expectations—that is, those of the Creator—and the expectations of our consciousness. The key postulate of the Biblical text is really this: that Creator and creature communicate with each other through consciousness. More than that perhaps: that Creator and creature blend and merge within consciousness.

This Constitution and Criminal Code will thus have to account for projections of both God's desires and the desires of our consciousness. They are structured in the principles laid out in the Ten Commandments and in the punishments of the Ten Plagues, both found in the book of Exodus.

The Creator's expectations and punishments correspond to similar expectations and punishments within our consciousness. Employing collective and personal symbolism and the reading of Carl Jung of the Commandments, the book steer away from the morality usually applied when judging, instead allowing the soul’s yearnings and aspirations to guide this evaluation of the quality and propriety of life.

About the Author

Rabbi Nilton Bonder was trained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and lectures regularly in the United States. Born in Brazil, he is a best selling author of eighteen books in Latin America. He leads one of Brazil most influential Jewish congregations and is also active in the civil rights and ecological causes. Some of his books have been translated in Europe and Asia and five of them in the US (The Kabbalah of Food, The Kabbalah of Money, The Kabbala of Envy, Yidische Kop -- Problem Solving in Jewish Lore, Learning and Humor and Our Immoral Soul -- A Manifesto of Spiritual Disobedience) His last book published in the US has been selected among the best 20 books on Judaica on 2002 and has been included in the Best Jewish Writing of 2002 - organized by Tikkun Magazine.

Our Immoral Soul was selected as the best brazilian play of 2007 by Veja Magazine, the most prestigious in the country. His latest book "Taking off Your Shoes" on an expedition with Harvard University on footsteps of Abraham, has made the best selling lists in the country.

He has led workshops for main corporations like IBM, MCI, ABN-Amro, Globo Network Television, Brazilian Oil Company and delivered lectures at Boston University, New York Central Library, American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Blanton Peale Counseling Center, Open Center, San Francisco and New York, Nationaal Vakbodsmuseum, Amsterdam, Leiden University, Omega Institute, The Learning Anex, San Francisco, Libreria L'Ancora, Milão, State of the World Forum, Brandeis University, Jewish Museum, Praga, and United Nations Peace Conference.