Religions and mystics

Introduction

Jewish mysticism is studied principally within two domains of research: Jewish studies, and the study of esotericism. While the writings of Gershom Scholem[1] - founder and first Chair in the study of Jewish mysticism in Jerusalem in the 1930's – endorse the expression 'Jewish mysticism' in speaking of the kabbalah , studies in the history of esotericism consider it to be the 'esotericism' or the 'esoteric tradition' of Judaism par excellence , establishing a distinction – albeit unclear – between esotericism and mysticism. Antoine Faivre's terminology in relation to the kabbalah appears all the more vague when it refers to the Zohar[2] , “the summit of Jewish theosophy[3] ” . From the point of view of forging a disciplinary field covering the 'study of western esotericism', a relatively recent creation, it should perhaps be seen here as a desire to integrate under a new label without religious differentiation what had up until then been loosely labelled as 'Jewish mysticism'.

A comparison of the meaning encapsulated by Antoine Faivre in his definition of esotericism and mysticism on the one hand and the meaning Scholem gave to the term mysticism on the other reveals an important divergence in the treatment of the subject. Motivated by a desire to provide an operational definition of esotericism, Antoine Faivre tends to draw a distinction between mysticism on one side and esotericism – or 'gnosis[4] ' – on the other .

According to Faivre, what distinguishes mysticism from esotericism is the capacity of the individual to communicate their experience in terms that are comprehensible to others. Implicitly, he is making reference to the ineffable character of the mystical experience, often presented as an important characteristic of the experience of mysticism. We should bear in mind this notion of the ineffability of mystical experience when we come across it again, in an original form, in Scholem's conception of Jewish mysticism.

Reading the works of Antoine Faivre reveals the difficulty of clearly distinguishing a group of concepts relating to esotericism, defined in the course of history by terms such as 'hermetism[5]' , 'theosophy', 'alchemy[6]' etc. It is the reason why Faivre formulated a 'criteriology' intended to identify the presence of a 'form of esotericism' . Four criteria must be present:

  1. the existence of correspondence between all the elements of the universe;

  2. the perception of nature as a living and animated whole;

  3. the presence of the imagination, the faculty of the soul which enables it to decipher the mysteries of living nature, using different mediators to do so (symbols, intermediary spirits etc);

  4. the experience of transmutation – a term borrowed from alchemy: man, through his knowledge of the secret reality of the universe, is profoundly transformed. To these four essential components are added two secondary ones, often present in the form of esoteric thought, but not indispensable;

  5. the practice of concordance with philosophical and religious traditions;

  6. the recognition of a transmission which alone can validate the knowledge received and the transmutation which follows.

  1. Gershom Scholem

    Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) was an historian of Jewish mysticism. He was the first to hold the chair of Jewish Mysticism Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which he had helped to set up in the 1920's. His best known work, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, was published in 1941 and had a major impact on subsequent developments in the discipline to which he had dedicated himself. The thrust of Scholem's work – which probably explains the notoriety of his thought even outside academic and historical circles -was to present a global vision of the history of Judaism and the major trends running through it. His work was based on the hypothesis that Jewish mysticism (an expression, for Scholem, which covered many different trends, underground and opposed to the 'rationalist' trend) had been and remained an essentially revitalising factor in rabbinic Judaism.

  2. Zohar

    The Zohar is the central text of Jewish mysticism. It is a compilation, the first elements of which date from the end of the 13th century and which are presented as an esoteric commentary on the scriptures. Research suggests that the author was Moses de Léon, but tradition attributes the text to Simeon Bar Yohai, master of the Mishnah, who died in the 2nd century AD.

  3. Theosophy

    Theosophy, etymologically speaking, signifies 'knowledge of the divine', and is a description of the hidden mysteries of the life of God in his relationship to that of man and of creation. The term 'theosophy' has, since the 19th century, been applied to a western esoteric trend with links to eastern traditions and which is known under the name of the 'Theosophy Society'.

  4. gnosis

    The term 'gnosis' signifies a specialist and superior knowledge about the mysteries of divinity. Antoine Faivre made a distinction between 'gnostic' and 'gnosticism', which refers to a philosophical and religious movement specific to the ancient world.

  5. Hermetism

    Hermetism is a group of esoteric doctrines presented as having been transmitted by the Egyptian god Hermes Thot ('Hermes Trismegistus' in Greek tradition), the central text of which is the Corpus hermeticum (assemblage of writings attributed to Hermes). Hermetic tradition was an important component of alchemy from the Middle Ages. From the 18th century, the term 'hermetism' became an umbrella term associated with different trends such as the kabbalah, the philosophy of Paracelcus, pythagorism, and alchemy, which later reverted to the term 'esotericism'.

  6. Alchemy

    Alchemy may be understood as being at once a practice and a theory. On the level of theory, it concerns a philosophy of nature whose origins go back to antiquity. At the practical level, alchemy refers to a process of purification and the perfecting of matter, which could be seen as being parallel to the purification of the soul of the alchemist. The objective is the search for a panacea, a universal medicine capable of healing both body and soul. Alchemy was a particularly prominent trend in western esotericism from the Middle Ages.

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