Language

An influential thinker on the topic of religion and the holy in the first half of the twentieth century was a man named Rudolph Otto. He wrote extensively on the topic of what is "holy" and what constitutes a conception of the Divine. His specific writings (the little I have had the privilege of reading thus far) are very interesting indeed, however, today I wanted to focus on how he wrote...

During his writing about religion, Otto was forced to use words that are familiar to the audience. Words such as "dread," and "majesty," and, "gracious." However, these words when used to describe the religious experience, or when used as descriptors for the Divine fall short of truly being descriptive, rather, these words are used in our common vernacular to describe common phenomena. In Otto's work he at times resorts to using Greek or Latin words for key concepts, as these words serve to impart a sense of uniqueness to the concepts they express...

And here we have the crux of it.

Revelation has been delivered to mankind many times throughout the ages, many people have received the "word of God," in many ways, and these words have been passed on to others in many ways. If we look at an example such as the Holy Qur'an, we see that the language used within the holy book differs from common, spoken Arabic. This unique language is a part of what imparts sacredness to the words. In my previous posts, I have attempted to "describe" qualities of God, or at least to turn concepts relating to the Divine and to the Sacred into language that I feel can be easily understood by most people. However, I have also been told that by doing so, something about what I am doing seems almost sacrilegious.

Language is so important, it is the way in which we communicate to each other, and it is the way in which we attempt to commune with the Divine or the Sacred. However, the type of language we use is very important as well. Sometimes things are done for a reason beyond what we can hope to understand. Why was the Holy Book of Islam, a religion with 1.6 billion adherents around the world, revealed in a language that only a small fraction can understand or read? Further, even amongst those who claim Arabic as their mother tongue, many are unable to navigate the archaic linguistic nuances found within the Qur'an.

The true answer will always be a mystery, but the sense of sacredness found within those words which we do not encounter in our common parlance undoubtedly plays a part. This is also partly why rituals are so important in the religious experience. Rituals and ceremonies impart a sense of "special-ness" a unique air about them... This is not something that happens in our mundane life, rather it is something that is reserved for times when we wish to communicate with the Sacred, these rituals, these forms of languages are to only be used in special situations, and by making the situation surrounding the religious experience special, we in turn make everything associated with the experience special as well.

Once again, this is another quite sad attempt at bringing the Sacred, the Divine into a form of language that can easily be understood, but the true message is deeper, the true message behind anything that communicates the sacred is tied to not only what is said, but how it is said.

Beauty

I saw one of the most wondrous sights of my life today.

As I drove along a road, near my home, I saw a small pond. This "pond" was made of rain water and snow that had melted by the road (actually, highway) and a small body of water had formed. So truly, it was a small body of pretty dirty, probably muddy water. Yet, it captivated me.

The slow moving ripples along the surface. The small wind-stirred waves that made the entire pool look as though it were made up of thousands of tiny mountains and valleys. But mostly, the reflection of the sky in the water. The many shades of blue were spectacular. Cerulean, azure, sky blue, a royal shade. Every type of blue I have ever seen or imagined was captured in that water.

And then I realized, that the water was not beautiful, rather, the sky was.

The sky had incredible colours and variety today, mostly in anticipation of a coming summer storm. The vast magnitude of the sky, the many colours and beauties it contained were fortuitously reflected back at a perfect angle for me to have a perfect moment of beauty.

This happens often in our lives as well. We often see someone who is beautiful, or something that captures our imaginations, our hearts and we see that object or individual and we know that it is special. However, what we see as beauty, be it internal or external, is often simply a reflection of something greater.

I am sure if I return to that pool tomorrow and take a very close look at the water, I will see many imperfections and possibly I will not see the same beauty I saw today. In fact, if it is a rainy day, I may even think the sky that was the source of the beauty looks quite drab. However, what has been seen cannot be unseen. The moment I had, that moment of pure beauty remains.

Maybe this is how God is? Maybe God shows us glimpses of His beauty in our daily lives, but never enough beauty to fully satisfy us. Maybe, even if we look at what we believe to be the source of beauty, we still may not continually see what we wish to see... because true beauty is not meant to last forever. True beauty is a concept which we can only experience for a short moment, for it serves as a small taste, a reminder that we are in the end meant to keep searching.