The Zohar is a collection of writings and teachings that appeared in the 13th century and is the basis of kabbalah, a mystical extension of Judaism. It has been described as a “mosaic of Bible, medieval homily, spiritual fantasy, and imaginative commentary, or midrash, on the Torah, written in the form of a mystical novel” — full of poetic prose "overflowing with multiple connotations . . . peppered with enigmatic expressions, puns, outlandish constructions, puzzling neologisms, solecisms, and traces of medieval Hebrew and Castilian."
In his Introduction to the Zohar, Daniel C. Matt, one of the foremost authorities on Jewish mysticism, closes with this advice: “Above all, don’t reduce everything you encounter in these pages to something you already know.”
Beware of trying to find “the essence” of a particular teaching. Although usually essence is the goal of mystical search, here essence is inadequate unless it stimulates you to explore ever deeper layers, to question your assumptions about tradition, God, and self.
And Matt supports that advice with a parable from the Zohar itself (Zohar 2:176a-b):
There was a man who lived in the mountains. He knew nothing about those who lived in the city. He sowed wheat and ate the kernels raw.
One day he entered the city. They offered him good bread. The man asked, “What’s this for?”
They replied, “It’s bread, to eat!”
He ate, and it tasted very good. He asked, “What’s it made of?”
They answered, “Wheat.”
Later they offered him thick loaves kneaded with oil. He tasted them, and asked, “And what are these made of?”
They answered, “Wheat.”
Later they offered him royal pastry kneaded with honey and oil. He asked, “And what are these made of?”
They answered, “Wheat.”
He said, “Surely I am the master of all of these, since I eat the essence of all of these: wheat!”
Because of that view, he knew nothing of the delights of the world, which were lost on him. So it is with one who grasps the principle but is unaware of all those delectable delights deriving, diverging from that principle.