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Souls on Fire: Mysticism in Literature
Author, humanitarian, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s Souls on Fire examines the strain of charismatic mysticism in Hasidic Judaism through biographical details of its founder Baal Shem and the stories surrounding Shem that proved to be foundational in shaping the Hasidic movement. Unlike other types of religious writing, mysticism focuses less upon analysis and more upon collapsing the divide between human and divine. Wiesel characterizes mystical writing by its “fervent waiting, the longing for redemption,” and stories in the mystical tradition typically feature “the link between man and his Creator,” an emphasis on spiritual wandering away rather than institutional stability, and miracles (Wiesel 5). Words are given significance in the mystical tradition less because of their meaning but more because of the emotional impetus behind those words. They are tales of “passionate involvement” that even the teller may wink and suggest are not true, but the truth is not one of literal action, but rather spiritual truth (Wiesel 7). Wiesel offers...
There is a very democratic element to mysticism in that scholarly learning cannot necessarily secure access to it. What is more important is the state of one’s heart, versus the learning in one’s mind, although a holy man such as Shem may act as a guide. “The Hasidic sect served as a framework for direct contact between the leader and his followers, and the communion with God…transmitted to his followers” (Balog and Morganstern). There was no need for the money required to secure an education and institutional support to study the Talmud; even the poorest laborer could find religious ecstasy. In fact, too much learning can act as…
Works Cited
“Kabbalah and Hasidim.” The Pluralism Project. Harvard University. Web. February 26, 2019. http://pluralism.org/religions/judaism/introduction-to-judaism/kabbalah-and-hasidism/
Wiesel, Elie. Souls on Fire. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
Thomas took the ashes and smiled, closed his eyes, and told this story: "I'm going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home. It will be beautiful. His teeth will shine like silver, like a rainbow. He will rise, Victor, he will rise." Victor
The final lyrics in this poem divert back to the young girl that has stolen Yeats attention away from politics. The line reads "But O. that I were young again/and held her in my arms!(Yeats)" This line is significant in that Yeats seemingly asserts that although there is a certain fascination with politics, to a young man winning the affections of a girl is too much of a distraction and
It is only through occult understanding that the forms and the archetypal images and symbols can be interpreted. Here we see that the term unconsciousness is very similar to the Platonic ideals and forms. Another aspect that will form part of the theoretical perspective of this study is the concept of transformation. In order to understand the occult and its relationship to the forms, a process of transformation has to
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Homer in Hollywood: The Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film adaptation of the Odyssey is actually at the center of the plot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt, and the Alberto Moravia novel on which Godard's film is
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