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.