The problem with mysticism based on the Zohar is the phrase עם כל דא "even though".[עם כל דא " is used all the time in the Zohar.] I mean to say that the Zohar was written during the Middle Ages after that phrase עם כל זה [translated in Aramaic עם כל דא] was invented by the Ibn Tibon family. Before then one said "even though" by אף על פי or אף על גב. [Rav Yakov Emden in fact noticed the problem. He concluded that some parts of the Zohar were based on mystic writings that had come before that time, but a lot of it was not from R Shimon ben Yochai.
So while I have a lot of respect for the great mystics like Rav Avraham Abulafia and Rav Isaac Luria,, I do not see the Zohar as having validity at all.
