Midrash ha-Ne'elamמדרש הנעלם

"The Concealed Midrash" — the Zohar's oldest stratum, part Hebrew part Aramaic, more philosophical, closer to allegory: the soul, not the sephirot, is its protagonist (Abraham and Sarah as intellect and body). The scaffolding the later, wilder Zohar climbed up from — watching the style deepen from here to the Idras is watching a mystic find his voice.