Re: The Face Of God

Mike Ellis wrote, quoting myself:

> >I imagine that this should serve as a good translation exercise.
>
> It does. It's a bit (read: a lot) more pious than the stuff I usually
> translate. The Rheans are, as a rule (complete with exceptions!), not a
> very religious people. But here's how they'd say those twelve things:
Incidentally, in my experience the word 'pious' is almost extinct as a
synonym for 'devoted to religion'. Instead, 'piety' has come to mean
'false piety' and 'pious' to be linked to the image of someone whose
devotion is entirely a matter of appearance. This is certainly the
image it invokes for me, and I have to look twice on those occasions
when someone uses it in its original sense.

> I can see something like this twelve-attribute "wheel" appearing in a
> temple in Rhea: not in a temple of Rhetakaf*, but perhaps in a temple of
> Yadsevno**. Likely these would be reduced to one word each though, as
> the "of all" is redundant when the |-tas'| is used. And I'll use some
> alternate words (same concepts, though) which sound better in Rhean than
> the literal trnaslation. This gives us, around the clock:
Oh, I think they would look much better in a language where each
attribute is a single word! I can also imagine the wheel being the
basis for a variety of devices, such as a candle stand with twelve
holes and each attribute engraved in gold on the wood.

As for 'alternate words', here are some comments that may have a
bearing upon the best translation of the twelve attributes:

* * *

Most people probably noticed that the twelve attributes are not
arbitrarily scattered around the clock face. For example, attributes
on opposing sides are always complementary in some way. 'Most intimate'
and 'most vast' are complementary on account of being opposites; 'most
goodwilling' and 'most knowing' are complementary on account of
focussing on complementary aspects of Mind - will versus intellect.

Sometimes the English words did not really capture the attributes that
I had in mind. The wheel relies upon a combination of three things to
get its meaning across - the name of the attribute, the clarification
in brackets, and the arrangement of attributes so that the reader can
see what each one is being contrasted with. "Most indispensible" is an
example of an attribute I couldn't find an English word for. I was
trying to capture a deeper idea (hinted at by the bracketted phrase
'must be sought'), namely the importance of seeking to improve one's
own understanding of God. In other words, that it is important to seek
to know God ever better. This attribute clearly complements the one on
the opposite side, "most unsurveyable". Together they say, "It is
important, on the one hand, to seek to know God ever better, yet it is
impossible, on the other hand, to know God more than a tiny fraction".

I also arranged the wheel so that related attributes, as far as
possible, are nearby. For example why is God the "most imperative"?
What is it about God that means he must be obeyed? The wheel suggests
a combination of two reasons. It is probably better to obey someone who
has your best interests at heart rather than someone who is happy to
see you suffer, and you'll notice that "most imperative" is a neighbour
of "most goodwilling". It is also probably better to obey someone who
knows what they are doing rather than someone who does not, and
appropriately the other neighbour of "most imperative" is "destiny of
all", which implies that he does. It isn't just because he has a big
stick!

Similarly, why is God the destiny of all? This time, look not to the
immediate neigbours, but two attributes on each side. "Destiny of all"
is halfway between "most goodwilling of all" and "most vast of all".
This suggests that God is the destiny of all because (1) he _cares_
about what happens to everything and (2) he is _powerful_ enough to do
something about it.

It would have been a miracle if the twelve attributes all fitted
together as neatly as that, but I arranged them so that related
attributes are together /as best as I could/.

* * *

With all this in mind, there is considerable potential for another
language to do a better and more poetic job than I was able to do in
English.

Adrian.

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