1. Engage thoughtfully and with significant specificity (noting particular readi

1. Engage thoughtfully and with significant specificity (noting particular readings, page numbers, and occasional line excerpts for support) about at least 4-5 of the secondary sources (contemporary scholarly essays). Compare/contrast; discuss major themes and observations about the nature and form of autobiography and its relation to / manifestation in Kabbalah. About 4 double-spaced pages (900-1000 words).
(The sources are attached- use the secondary readings- Idel, Mintz, Sharon, Moseley, Smith+Watson) Use these readings to construct the answer.
2.
Discuss the specifics of issues such as mystical experience, theology, emotion, self construction, embodiment, spiritual psychology and the literary forms of autobiographical life writing and narrative as they are manifested in the writings of two to three (2-3) of the mystics studied since the midterm, among them: Yosef Karo, Moshe Cordovero, Hayyim Vital, Yitzhak Safrin of Komarno. How may these corpora of text be compared? As with the midterm, consider such guiding questions as: How is the testimonial, first person, voice utilized, and to what end? What are the purposes and characteristics of these life narratives? What are the ways in which mystical religious experience is represented for each of these thinkers and practitioners? Offer close readings of the primary sources. Build upon categories set out in the study/Havruta rubric. Illuminate how these texts convey ideas, wisdom, states of consciousness, notions of selfhood and its development, and more. About 4 double spaced pages (900-1000 words).
Use the sources attached- 1. Joseph Karo and 2. file.pdf (Hayyim vital).