Filosofia & Mysticismo

The dangers which myth and magic present to the religious consciousness, including that of the mystic, are clearly shown in the development of Kabbalism. If one turns to the writings of great Kabbalists one seldom fails to be torn between alternate admiration and disgust. There is need for being quite clear about this in a time like ours, when the fashion of uncritical and superficial condemnation of even the most valuable elements of mysticism threatens to be replaced by an equally uncritical and obscurantist glorification of the Kabbalah. I have said before that Jewish philosophy had to pay a high price for its escape from the pressing questions of real life. But Kabbalism, too, has had to pay for its success. Philosophy came dangerously near to losing the living God; Kabbalism, which set out to preserve Him, to blaze a new and glorious trail to Him, encountered mythology on its way and was tempted to lose itself in the labyrinth.

Gershom Scholem. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. Schoken Books (1974)

Palavras necessárias, especialmente quando transpostas fora do domínio estreito da Cabala e reaplicadas aos domínios mais irracionais do pensamento humano. A ânsia que tantos hoje têm de desejar, até mesmo de ansiar, pelo irracional, pelo emotivo, pelo ilógico, em prejuízo hostil dos seus opostos — seja isso na filosofia, na arte, ou, no caso que conheço melhor, no idolatrar tolo de certas forças supostamente libertadoras da poesia & da linguagem, é uma ânsia que deveria ser denunciada.