It all begins with a missing comma
August 12, 2017
A single phrase, which is well put, can be of the outmost importance. It can be a life changer!
Equivalently, one single comma can change the meaning of a phrase, into something else than it was originally intended…
One might say, “Okay, is that all?” No, it is not! Because it can change the meaning of that phrase into the exact opposite side of what it is supposed to mean!
This, practically, is a total disaster…
Unless it is done on purpose in order to deceive. Then, it is not a disaster, but on the contrary, it is brilliant. I do not approve deception, but I understand it, sometimes respect it, and naturally, I avoid as much as I can, falling into its trap…
The perfect example for this case, which I am aware of, comes from as far back as when Greece was the light of the civilization in the western world.
When an ancient Greek warrior would face an upcoming war, he would often go to the oracle, in order to be foretold about his fate. Much like nowadays people refer to an astrologist about their future…
But because Yoda told us long time ago that “…always in motion the future, difficult to see…” the oracles did find a way to manipulate and misguide those worrying warriors who would run to them for advice…
Thus, the oracle by chanting the phrase below, deliberately missing one comma, she did manipulate the entire meaning, in order for it to fit any possible outcome…
(This of course will be a translation to modern English directly from the ancient Greek):
“You will go you will return not in war shall you die”
And now I will present you the same phrase twice, with one comma, but at each phrase on a different word of that same sentence. So, please pay close attention, in order to see if you will die or not in war!
“You will go you will return, not in war shall you die”
“You will go you will return not, in war shall you die”
Do you see what I see?!
But there is something far more dangerous than the intent to manipulate…
It is ignorance, incompetence and stupidity, sometimes all combined in one knot. And I would much rather prefer someone trying to manipulate me than this!
In translations of books etc. this happens all the time, but either accidentally or by incompetence. And well, it is possible to… survive this. But what happens when we try to translate philosophy, poetry, anecdotes, allegory, or anything with a meaningful intent, like the writings of a Master?!
In this case, it is far better to leave things in the shadows of original language, than take it from there and simply destroy it… It is far better for “the few” scholars to know, than for “the many” to learn it wrong. Because guess what it is which prevails in the end?! The opinion of the mob…
Get it right or forget it
Some things are worth repeating, every now and then.
People look for the originality of things, but they keep looking in the wrong places… So, they travel to India to become a Yogi, to the Shaolin temple to become a “Kung Fu Master” and to Japan to learn the ways of the Samurai…
And when they come back, after a couple of years or so, they even pretend to be what they have not become!
This is the sad truth, and I have not experienced this only once or twice. In my training days as a student this was a pattern and it still goes on nowadays.
The originality of the Arts are to be found within the techniques of the Arts themselves and no place else. Traveling to “exotic” places surely will give you something, but this will not go deeper than the surface. Surrendering to practice is the only traveling which you will ever need, because it will be something which is yours to grasp and will transform you from within…
In the practice of eastern Ways “theory and philosophy” occur after practical application and not the other way round. Just like nature does!
One might ask “how can that be?” Well, it can… Just look around you… Does the sun have a theory? No it does not. But it works just fine doesn’t it?
Misinterpreting the eastern ways for western philosophies also comes when one is choosing poorly his words. When you read or hear something, which is supposed to be important and not just casual talk, you hear that something and you just stand there, amazed…
But in order for that to happen, the writer must have understood it correctly himself, before launching it out…
Here is an example…
A few weeks back I happened to pass by an entrance of a yoga/meditation school (I deny to call it a studio, even if I should). There was only one sign at the door, which dominated everything else, so as to attract attention. It clearly suggested that this one phrase represented everything that was to be “found” beyond that door.
The sign said: “Nothing is permanent”
At reading this, my thinking was that we have, once more, a misconception at hand… But this time it is a bit different from the example with the deliberate missing comma. It was a phrase which clearly shows lack of understanding of the purpose of eastern Arts.
This was, again, a westernization of the eastern approach!!!
Please allow me to joke around on this, so I can get it out of my system, before I go into a proposal of how this could have been written…
To begin with, what a negative statement, writing something like this outside a Yoga/Meditation door. There is no direction to anything, just a pessimistic, no-way-out phrase.
So, if “Nothing is permanent” then:
a. Why would anybody enter this in the first place, to achieve anything? We could as well hang around all day doing nothing, since nothing that we will strive for will last…
b. If this phrase is to remind us about our unavoidable death, we could as well kill ourselves right away, thus, save us the trouble of doing anything at all, and have it done with a bit earlier…
c. …which kind of reminds me, if I kill myself, I will remain dead forever and ever, which is a permanent thing, so you are lying to me!
d. What an approach to attract young and full of life people, giving them a motive under which promising students would practice…
e. I have a very stupid neighbor, a real case of being retarded, and I think his state is absolutely permanent… If you are in doubt, I can send him to you!
On the other hand, and for the sake of “the devil’s advocate”, it is an undeniable fact that “Nothing is permanent”. Everything we know of will fall into entropy, will be destroyed, will die, vanish, disappear and fall into dark oblivion…
You either embrace the idea, like those who know how to do it, or lay down flat…
The attempt of writing something “wise” and “eastern” on a Yoga/Meditation entrance has greatly failed here…
Expressing “emptiness” “the void” “impermanence” our connection to “the source”, and likewise eastern concepts, has little to do with our western approach to it. By doing this mistake, the only thing which will surface, will be a feeling of sadness and a way of thinking into a negative direction…
I would like to take a paint-can, walk right to that door, and set things right by re-writing it…
“Change is permanent”