Kabbalah: Umberto Eco's Poetics Meets Jewish Mysticism - Page 2

Part of: Kabbalistic Offshoots and Mystical Bends

“...for creation had to be inspired by love of someone who is not ourselves.”

It's interesting to note that this beautiful interpretation of Luria has been already thought of by Chaim Volozin, an orthodox rabbi, whose ethical work (Nefesh Ha-Chaim, the Spirit, or Soul, of Life), is based on Isaac Luria’s system. Hence, by almost a coincidence of opposites (another Kabbalistic theme), Eco’s poetics meets Jewish mysticism.

However, the most apt undercurrent is the impossibility of being a total skeptic or an absolute believer. As one of the characters puts it: “’It’s not true, but I believe in it? Well, I don’t believe in it, but it’s true.’”

One fact remains certain; there will be an end, of the book or of one’s life. It may be that mysticism is the wish to overcome this absolute, to conquer it. Or more humbly, perhaps mysticism is about finding consolation in the face of the only definite absolute.

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Article Author: michal Schwartz

Michal Schwartz holds a PhD in philosophy and literature, and has been long obsessed with Kabbalah and mysticism in general. She published her first book "Metapher und Offenbarung," in Berlin, 2003 and her book "Gateway of Souls. A Kabbalistic Mystery," just came out.

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