The Jewish Mystical Library and New Visions of Reality
Jewish Mysticism May 31, 2007 DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774679.003.0001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Jewish mysticism deals with a hidden reality beyond the perceptible world, revealed in various visual forms across periods, and that the mystical tradition's relation to sacred texts was flexible, emphasizing hidden meaning and creative potential. |
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the corpus of mystical writings in the traditional Jewish world, developed over the course of thousands of years. With all its cultural and historical manifestations, mysticism embraces a rich world of thought, creativity, imagination, and inspiration, transcending existential experience. Mysticism deals mainly with another reality that exists beyond the perceptible world, a reality that is revealed to visionaries when the veils obscuring everyday consciousness are lifted. This hidden reality has different visual realizations in different historical periods. In Jewish mysticism, it relates to secret theological and cosmological systems that add hidden structure, inner sense, depth, flexibility, and secret meaning to revealed reality, a reality assumed not to be subject to any change. The chapter then looks at how the hidden reality was described in the vast library of the mystical tradition. This mystical library was not based on a fixed mode of relating to the sacred text, but rather on a flexible mode relating to its hidden meaning and creative potential, one revealed to the inner eye of the beholder and resonating in their soul.