The Spark of Impenetrable Darkness
13/02/2004 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeina"The Spark of Impenetrable Darkness" and other mysteries. Translated by Daniel Matt
Izzie heard this on the radio yesterday and liked it so much that she had to share it with her favorite interesting creatures.
How wonderful to find a station that not only produces fascinating programs but even provides free online transcripts.
"Daniel Matt: Why don’t I start with a simple one, and then do a more difficult passage.
"This first one is a parable. It appears around the middle of The Zohar, and I think it really encapsulates part of The Zohar’s message, which is that when you read a text, don’t be content with finding just one meaning. Even if you think you’ve found the essential meaning, the real important thing is to allow that initial meaning, or even the essential meaning, to expand, to flower into all its possible connotations. You could say this is an attack on reductionism, or on fundamentalism.
There was a man who lived in the mountains. He knew nothing about those who lived in the city. He sowed wheat and ate the kernels raw. One day he entered the city. They offered him good bread. The man asked, ‘What’s this for?’ They replied, ‘It’s bread, to eat.’ He ate, and it tasted very good. He asked, ‘What’s it made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’.
Later they offered him thick loaves, kneaded with oil. He tasted them and asked, ‘And what are these made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’. Later they offered him royal pastry, kneaded with honey and oil. He asked, ‘And what are these made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’. He said, ‘Surely I am master of all of these, since I eat the essence of all of these, wheat.’
Because of that view, he knew nothing of the delights of the world, which were lost on him. So it is with one who grasps the principle but is unaware of all those delectable delights, deriving, diverging from that principle."
Izzie heard this on the radio yesterday and liked it so much that she had to share it with her favorite interesting creatures.
How wonderful to find a station that not only produces fascinating programs but even provides free online transcripts.
"Daniel Matt: Why don’t I start with a simple one, and then do a more difficult passage.
"This first one is a parable. It appears around the middle of The Zohar, and I think it really encapsulates part of The Zohar’s message, which is that when you read a text, don’t be content with finding just one meaning. Even if you think you’ve found the essential meaning, the real important thing is to allow that initial meaning, or even the essential meaning, to expand, to flower into all its possible connotations. You could say this is an attack on reductionism, or on fundamentalism.
There was a man who lived in the mountains. He knew nothing about those who lived in the city. He sowed wheat and ate the kernels raw. One day he entered the city. They offered him good bread. The man asked, ‘What’s this for?’ They replied, ‘It’s bread, to eat.’ He ate, and it tasted very good. He asked, ‘What’s it made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’.
Later they offered him thick loaves, kneaded with oil. He tasted them and asked, ‘And what are these made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’. Later they offered him royal pastry, kneaded with honey and oil. He asked, ‘And what are these made of?’ They answered, ‘Wheat’. He said, ‘Surely I am master of all of these, since I eat the essence of all of these, wheat.’
Because of that view, he knew nothing of the delights of the world, which were lost on him. So it is with one who grasps the principle but is unaware of all those delectable delights, deriving, diverging from that principle."
