[Sabbatai Sevi’s] transgressions, which formed so characteristic a part of his behavior, did not become a “normal” pattern. Their significance was purely symbolic. They were indicative of some special, exalted condition of the soul.

—Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, Gershom Scholem

I wanted to share this quote because it ties into a comment I made on a panel at Salt Lake Comic Con — that in the real world, wizards and holy men (the line is often fine) often show that they have transcended ordinary mortality by deliberately violating taboos.

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