Isaac the Blind (c. 1160-1235, Provence, France) was a famous writer on subjects dealing with Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah.
He was the son of famous talmudist Abraham ben David of Posquières.
A major Jewish mystic text, known as the Bahir, first appeared in the middle ages, around 1200 CE in France. It discusses a number of ideas that were to become important for the Kabbalah, and even thought the origins of the anonymous work are obscure there were nevertheless important Jewish mystic thinkers who were writing at the same time in France. The most influencial of these was Isaac the Blind.
Isaac knew about the Bahir, but was strongly influenced by the philosophy of Neo-Platonism.
Isaac the Blind's mystical concepts
He considered the sefirot as having their origins in a hidden and infinite level deep within the Ayn Sof, or Divine Being.
He believed that from the Ayn Sof emanated Mahshavah (Divine Thought), which was the first supernatural quality. The rest of the sefirot emanated from the Divine Thought. Individual beings in the world are material manifestation of the sefirot, albeit on a lower level of reality. Mystic experience aids in reascending the levels of emanations to unite with Divine Thought.
The most famous student of Isaac the Blind was Azriel.
