Ja, Inny i (Nie)obecny. (Idee kabalistyczne w filozofii Boga Emmanuela Levinasa)

Emmanuel Lévinas is often regarded as incomprehensible. The author shows, however, that the core of his perception of reality consists of relatively clear assumptions of the mystical thought of Kabbalists and Hasidic thinkers. Lévinas claims that the only adequate name of the Godhead is that of Creator. Eventually, He can be called “Infinity” or “Nothingness”. The divine Nothingness, however, is not pantheistically present in the world, for this would imply the lack of any ontic separation between creation and the Godhead. This would inevitably imply radical postulates in the area of ethics, for “the Other” is just where man’s connection with Transcendence is to a certain extent possible. This is because according to the mystical views, God created the world inside Himself, by the means of His auto-negation, which justifies the statement that God left the world. And, since the Absolute has left the world, people can count solely on themselves. As a result, they are obliged to act positively or even heroically in the ethical order. Otherwise, their existence would become an unbearable torment.