Since about the time of the expulsion from Spain, the only theology that our people have had is the theology of the Kabbalah.
I’m saying this now not because I am biased, but I am speaking objectively.
Kabbalah is accepted not only in the chasidic world, but also by those who opposed the chasidim and followed the Gaon of Vilna.
In fact, the Vilna Gaon was possibly more deeply involved with, and wrote more about, the Kabbalah than many of the chasidic masters put together.
Even the Sefardim have clearly been taken with the Kabbalah, if not so obviously.
So Kabbalistic ideas don’t belong only to the chasidic point of view.
They are a part of a general Jewish psychology and theology.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz