The term mysticism is generally used to refer to worldviews that seek union with God, the Absolute or Ultimate Reality. These traditions pursue spiritual growth through different means, which may involve experiencing alternate states of consciousness. Because of their esoteric nature, their teachings are often shielded from the eyes of those deemed unprepared for them. 

On this website, we use the term mysticism to refer specifically to the esoteric and initiatory “branches” of mainstream exoteric religions (e.g.: Kabbalah, Sufism, Christian mysticism and Hesychasm, Yoga and Tantra, Buddhist meditation, Taoist Internal Alchemy).

Mystical traditions derive their knowledge from the accumulated personal experience of their practitioners as well as from their parent religions. However, they can be sometimes in conflict with the latter.

Some religions focus on mysticism more than others (e.g., Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and Orthodox Christianity). Therefore, their esoteric mystical schools and practices are more integrated with their main exoteric ones. For others (e.g., Judaism and Islam), to practice mysticism the believer has to join a separate group of dedicated practitioners. 

The main mystical traditions, include:

• Kabbalah (Judaism)
• Christian Mysticism (mainly in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and Hesychasm (Orthodox Christianity)
• Sufism (Islam)
• Yoga and Tantra (Hinduism)
• Buddhist Mindfulness and Meditation, as well as Tantric (Tibetan) Buddhism 
• Taoist Meditation and Internal Alchemy (Neidan)

The transcendent aspect of God in the Kabbalah is called Ein Sof (“The Infinite”). This tradition follows the doctrine of Absolute Divine Simplicity, where no plurality of faculties, moral dispositions, or essential attributes can exist in God. It does not even permit the affirmation that the statement “God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good” reflects different qualities or attributes of God, since this would imply multiplicity, which is not allowed in the Godhead ^A,B.

Regarding the Universe and creation, in order for God to be able to manifest his energies and attributes, God depends on creation. As Aryeh Kaplan stated:¹Kaplan, Aryeh (1991). Innerspace. Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation And Prophecy. Moznaim Publishing Corporation.

“God created a spiritual dimension… [through which God] interacts with the Universe… It is this dimension which makes it possible for us to speak of God’s multifaceted relationship to the universe without violating the basic principle of His unity and simplicity.”

Therefore, in Kabbalistic thought we have two aspects of God viewed as complementary to each other:

1. God in Essence (Ein / Ayn Sof or “The Infinite / Endless”). Transcendent, impersonal, limitless, unknowable. This Godhead is an Absolute Divine Simplicity beyond revelation that can only be partially defined by what It is not (negative or apophatic theology).

2. The manifested God. Immanent, personal, knowable. The revealed persona (mask) through which the Infinite creates, sustains and relates to all creation. Emanated from the first aspect or Essence of God. This aspect can be defined by ascribing to Him positive attributes (positive or cataphatic theology).

The Ein Sof, conceived as an infinite life force and first cause, is therefore not believed to be revealed in the Torah, as it is by definition incapable of being revealed. Regarding this point, the Zohar interprets the first words of the book of Genesis as:

• Original text in the Torah: “In the beginning God created (BeReishit Bara Elohim).”

• Interpretation in the Zohar: “With (the level of) Reishit (Beginning) (the Ein Sof) created Elohim (God’s manifestation in creation)”. This effectively implies another principle higher than the God revealed in the Hebrew Bible.

Medieval Kabbalists believed that creation came to be and all things were linked directly to God through emanations. This doctrine implies that all levels of existence are part of one great, continuous and gradually more imperfect, Chain of Being. There is no chasm, abyss or absolute separation between God and His creation.

The theory of emanations transforms the theistic concept of creation out of nothing (Ex Nihilo) into a panentheistic gradual self-emanation by the impersonal Infinite. This Ein Sof is, then, the source of all possibility but no actuality until the emanations are brought forth. It is the No-Thing that produces everything.

These emanations, in Kabbalistic thought, can be divided into four differentiated worlds or realms of existence:

Atziluth (the World of Emanation), Beriah (the World of Creation), Yetzirah (the World of Formation) and Assiah (the World of Action). Preceding them is Adam Kadmon, or Primordial Man. He contains both mankind (as its archetype) as well as the ten divine attributes (Sefirot).

In turn, the Tree of Life diagram represents the totality of the divine attributes through which God emanated all reality. It is the path and connection between the transcendent God and His immanent presence in creation (Shekinah) . In this scheme, Adam represents the highest attribute of God (Keter, crown), the Divine Will. An element of each divine attribute is also present in each of the Four Worlds and in each of the other particular attributes. This implies a fractal understanding of reality, where each level contains all the rest.

Going even further in the process of emphasizing the divine immanence of God, the Hasidic movement holds that, from God´s perspective, He is all that really exists.

Some Kabbalists conceive “evil” as necessary and implied by the very existence of God.

In the creation story of Lurianic Kabbalah, for example, the first act of the cosmic drama involves the self-withdrawal of God or the contraction of His Divine Light in order to leave a void where creation can take place (Tzimtzum). It is followed by an emanation of light into this void that allows individual existence, multiplicity, to come forth without staining the unity of the now self-exiled God.²Unity and multiplicity exist in dialectical tension.

This, in turn, is followed by the instability of this original creation (Tohu or Chaos), which leads to the shattering of the sephirotic vessels. The shards of the broken vessels then fall down into the lower realms. However, they are still animated by remnants of the Divine Light, which are now trapped in creation and constitute human souls. The mission of man in this life, then, is to rectify this state of affairs (Tikkun Olam) and return the exiled sparks of light back to their source, ending multiplicity once again.

The demonic realm created by the shells of the broken vessels devoid of light (The Other Side) is conceived as a mirror image of the realm of the holy. These shells confine the Divine Light but, paradoxically, also protect it by limiting its revelation.

Gershom Scholem, one of the most popular modern historians of Kabbalah, called this characteristic thought a “Jewish Gnostic motif”, especially prominent in Spanish Kabbalah.³See, for example: Scholem, Gershom (1960). Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah, Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition. KTAV Publishing House.

In this view, evil is a necessary precondition for the limitless to manifest. The origin of evil is an uncontainable excess of the good. Self-aware creation, in turn, is only possible after a cosmic catastrophe in the Godhead itself.

All this implies that the ultimate good is returning all the lost souls or sparks to their original absolute unity. It also implies that multiplicity is evil itself, with evil being nothing else than the concept of limit, of difference. The mystical task imposed on observing Jews is, then, to reveal and restore the concealed undifferentiated divine simplicity.

Another variant of Complementary Dualism can be found in the doctrine that the root of all evil is in one of the attributes of God Himself: His Strength, Judgement or Severity (Gevurah).

Following the same theme, Gevurah is thought as the necessary counterpart of divine Love / Kindness (Chesed). When man sins he actualizes or activates the attribute of Divine Judgment in his soul. This, given that man is viewed as a microcosmic image of the higher macrocosmic realities and is connected to them, contributes to unbalancing the equilibrium between the divine attributes of Love and Judgment in God Himself. This generates disharmony and actualizes the demonic realm, illusory in origin, in our plane of existence.

Kabbalah gives man the central role in creation. He is viewed as a full microcosmic reflection of the realities above, and is therefore granted free will, as it is one of the attributes of God in which he partakes. Mankind is, then, able to freely choose to live in a holy way that helps restore this broken world and liberate the trapped sparks of Divine Light.

The human soul is conceived as formed by: Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah. Nefesh, obtained at birth, is found in all humanity. It is the basis of one’s physical and psychological nature and so may partially condition us. The next two parts of the soul can be obtained and developed over time, depending on how we live, and become fully present only in spiritually awakened persons. They are: Spirit (Ruach), capable of distinguishing between good and evil, and the Intellect or higher soul (Neshamah) capable of being aware of the presence of God.

Sometimes two further parts or “soul states” are mentioned, more elevated than the ones before. They are Chayyah and Yehidah. They allow for awareness of the divine life force itself and to achieve union with God, respectively.

As we have seen, the ideal of the Kabbalist is to liberate the Holy Sparks present in creation so that they can go back to their source, Ein Sof. Like a drop of water back into the ocean, where particularity and multiplicity are discarded as temporary at best and as unreal at worst.

Another doctrine regarding the afterlife, that of reincarnation or transmigration (Gilgul Neshamot or “Cycles of the Soul”), was introduced into Kabbalah from the Middle Ages onwards. The concept is not a biblical one and was previously rejected, but Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism popularized it.

GENERAL MYSTICISM

1. Mysticism: Sacred and Profane. R.C. Zaehner.
2. Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta. René Guénon.
3. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Vladimir Lossky.

KABBALAH

1. Kaplan, Aryeh (1991). Innerspace. Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation And Prophecy. Moznaim Publishing Corporation.
2. Unity and multiplicity exist in dialectical tension.
3. See, for example: Scholem, Gershom (1960). Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah, Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition. KTAV Publishing House.

The following mystical schools, relevant today, are discussed in their own individual articles:
(Work in Progress – Full text available in The Metaphysical Compass book)

• Christian Mysticism: Purification, Prayer, and Hesychasm
• Islamic Mysticism: Sufism
• Hindu Mysticism: Yoga and Tantra
• Buddhist Mysticism: Meditation, Visualization and Tantra
• Taoist Mysticism: Meditation and Internal Alchemy
• Sikh Mysticism: Remembrance of the Divine Name