There is no fundamental difference between Paul’s conception of the resurrection body and that of the Gospels.(John Granger Cook, Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis, Mohr Siebeck, 2018, pp. 1)
The Greek verb ἐγείρω has a more restricted semantic range, and cannot mean raise or rise in this wider sense of elevation or ascension. Rather, ἐγείρω means to get up or stand up, that is, to rise from a supine to a standing position. Thus the verb is regularly used to denote the raising or rising up of one who has fallen (LXX Exod 23.5; LXX1 Kings 5.3; LXX Eccles 4.10; Jdt 10.23; Philo, Agr. 122; Mut. 56; Migr. 122; Matt 12.11; Mark 9.27; Acts 9.8; 1 Clem 59.4). It is also used of one kneeling or prostrate being raised back to a standing position (LXX 1 Kings 2.8; LXX 2 Kings 12.17; LXX Ps 112.7; LXX Dan 10.10; Philo, Ebr. 156; Post. 149; Matt 17.7; Luke 11.8; Acts 10.26; Hermas, Vis. 2.1.3; 3.2.4). The verb is used of one lying down, very frequently of one lying sick,who is restored to a standing posture (Matt 8.15; 9.5, 6, 7; Mark 1.31; 2.9, 11, 12; Luke 5.23–4; John 5.8 ; Acts3.6-7; James 5.15). The verb is also frequently used of one sitting who rises to stand (LXX Ps 126.2; LXX Isa 14.9; Matt 26.46; Mark 3.3; 10.49; 14.42; Luke 6.8; John 11.29; 13.4; 14.31; Hermas, Vis. 1.4.1). In no instance within ancient Greek literature does ἐγείρω denote the concept of ascension, elevation or assumption. Rather, it denotes the action whereby one who is prone, sitting, prostrate or lying down is restored to a standing position.(James P. Ware, The Resurrection of Jesus in the Pre-Pauline Formula of 1 Cor 15.3–5, New Testament Studies, 2014, p. 494)
Wake up, son of Tydeus, why do you sleep the whole night through? ... So he spoke, and he leapt up very quickly. (Homer Il. 10.159, 162)"Wake up" includes the sense of “getting up,” or at least implies it.
Wake/get up, you get her up, and I [will get] you up. Do you still sleep? Stand up, shaking off sleep. (Aeschylus Eum. 140–1)The command to stand clarifies the action (motion upward) implicit in the command to “wake” or “get up.
Rouse yourself a little, Adonis, and kiss me for a final time; kiss me as much as your kiss has life, until you breathe your last into my mouth, and your spirit flows into my heart ... (Bion [Epitaph. Adon.] 1.45–8)-
And their customary labor roused up the fishermen, and chasing the sleep from their eyelids, provoked speech in their minds. (Theocritus Id. 21.20–1)-
Whenever you wake/get up from sleep with difficulty, remember that according to your condition and human nature you perform social activities, and that sleeping is something also shared with irrational animals. (Marcus Aurelius Med. 8.12)The active component of the verb (i.e., getting up) is readily apparent in the emperor’s text.
(Strepsiades) But first I wish to wake him/rouse him up. How then could I rouse him up in the gentlest way? How? Phidippides, my little Phidippides. (Phidippides) What, father? (Str.) Kiss me, and give me your right hand. (Aristophanes Nub. 78–81)Presumably, Strepsiades sits or stands up after his father takes his hand. But the verb probably contains, even here, the sense of rising up from his supine position, since the father clearly intends to get his son into an upright position, as the reference to his “hand” makes clear.
And then I woke up: it is a joke about Dionysus. And then, he said, I got up from a dream; making it clear that a dream accomplished these things. (Scholia in Aristophanem Ran. 51)Clearly the scholiast believes that a seme of “upward motion” belongs to the verb.
And I roused up from sleep warding off the beasts [wolves] from the horses. For the night terror urged me. And raising my head, I hear the moaning of the dying. A warm stream of new blood from the wound of my master falls on me, as he died hard. I rise upright, my hand empty of any spear ... ([Euripides] Rhesus 787–92).This is a clear example of the spatial motion upward contained in the verb.
Subject | Verb | Predicate |
---|---|---|
will be clothed with | image of the Man from heaven | |
V. 51 we all | will be changed | ______________________ |
V. 52 the dead | will be raised | imperishable |
we | will be changed | ______________________ |
V. 53 this perishable | must be clothed with | imperishability |
this mortal body | must be clothed with | |
V. 54 this perishable body | is clothed with | imperishability |
this mortal body | is clothed with | immortality |
[Jesus Christ] will transform our lowly body to be conformed to his glorious body, in accordance with the outworking of his power whereby he is able to subject the entire universe to himself.When one reads the context of Phil 3:1-4:1, it becomes clear that, just like, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15, Paul's thought embraces the whole eschatological event, involving both the living and the dead. On Philippians 3:21 for instance, the exclusion of the resurrection from this passage will not work exegetically. This verse needs to be read within the larger passage, Philippians 3:1-4:1. 3:21 picks up, and brings to a climax, the thought in 3:10-11, where Paul expresses his personal hope that he "may by any means possible arrive at the resurrection from the dead." The "we" of Philippians 3:20-21 picks up the "I" of Philippians 3:10-11. In light of 3:10-11, it is impossible that the thought of 3:21 excludes the resurrection. Than there is Rom 8:11:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.Lastly, in ancient Judaism there were a number of options for the afterlife: eternal soul, resurrection of the body, awakening of the spirit, or nothing. It seems, however, that whenever Jewish texts affirmed of resurrection (i.e. upward movement), they affirmed of bodily resurrection. In other words, while there were many different beliefs in the afterlife, there were not various types of "resurrection" beliefs. As John Granger Cook says in his recent book, "The current fashion among some scholars of asserting that there were various concepts of “resurrection” in Second Temple Judaism seems fundamentally wrong [...] Spirits or souls do not rise from the dead in ancient Judaism, people do. (2018, 569).
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."Daniel is almost certainly referring to the resurrection of the dead. [...] The decisive confirmation of the bodily nature of resurrection in Daniel is the conclusion of the book where the seer is told that he will himself rise from the dead" (Cook, 465, 467):
12:13 But you, go your way to the end and rest; you shall rise [“stand”] for your reward at the end of days (NRSV mod.)-
7 After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?” 8 He replied in the language of his ancestors and said to them, “No.” Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. [...] After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, 11 and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.”"2 Maccabees represents one of the most intensely physical understandings that can be found in early Jewish literature. The martyrs profess their hope in a resurrection in which the very same members of the body will be restored to them in a new and everlasting life (7:7, 9–11)." (C.D Elledge, Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE-CE 200, Oxford Press, 2017, p. 26-27)
-
23 The creator of the cosmos, the one who shaped the origin of the human and invented the origin of all things, shall restore breath and life to you again with mercy, since now you disdain your very selves for the sake of his laws.
The righteous one will arise from sleep; he will arise and walk in the paths of righteousness, and all his path and his journey (will be) in piety and eternal mercy."There seems to be no fundamental reason for rejecting the conclusion that the text refers to the resurrection of the righteous and their subsequent behavior. The image of walking apparently envisions a “physical resurrection from the dead.” The emphasis on physically rising from sleep, and not just waking from sleep, also supports the contention that the reference is to resurrection." (Cook: 490-491)
And it shall come to pass after these things, when the time of the advent of the Messiah is fulfilled, that He shall return in glory. Then all who have fallen asleep in hope of Him shall rise again.The author then describes the appearance of the souls of the righteous and the wicked (2 Bar 30:3–5). The Lord announces the resurrection to Baruch (2 Bar 42:8):
And the dust shall be called, and there shall be said to it: “Give back that which is not yours, and raise up all that you have kept until its time.”The prophet queries the Almighty (2 Bar 49:2):
In what shape will those live who live in Your day? Or how will the splendor of those who (are) after that time continue?He wonders if their form will be changed (2 Bar 49:3):
Will they then resume this form of the present, and put on these members that chains clothe, which are now involved in evils, and in which evils are consummated, or will you perchance change these things which have been in the world as also the world?The question is about the nature of the resurrection body. The same image appears in this text (2 Bar 50:2–3):
For the earth shall then assuredly restore the dead, which it now receives, in order to preserve them. It shall make no change in their form, but as it has received, so shall it restore them, and as I delivered them unto it, so also shall it raise them. 3 For then it will be necessary to show the living that the dead have come to life againThis is undoubtedly resurrection of the body. The shape of the wicked will then become more evil, and the shape of the righteous will “become progressively more glorious” (2 Bar 51:2–5)." (Cook, pp. 496-497)
God himself will again give shape to the bones and ashes of people, and will raise mortals again, as they were before. (Sib. Or. 4.181-2)"The Fourth Sibylline Oracle affirms that resurrection bodies will have the same form as they did in life." (Cook: 500)
And after these things shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob arise unto life (25:1)"The verb’s use [arise] indicates bodily resurrection" (Cook: 456)
“At that time all flesh shall rise” (T. Ab. 7.17; the short recension)-
She will live again, return to the light again. For she can hope that she will rise to the life promised as a real assurance to the worthy and the pious in that she has deserved to possess an abode in the hallowed land.Joseph S. Park writes that surgat “seems to evoke an image of the deceased literally rising from the grave” (Park, Conceptions, p. 167)." (Cook: 474)
According to many, what Paul thinks of is an ethereal resurrection - a heavenly body discontinuities with the body that decomposes in the ground. Thus Paul states that we are raised in a "spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:44), which he contrasts with the earthly body ("it is sown a physical body"), and that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50). Paul also seems to believe that the earthly body is like a seed husk - discarded, while we are transformed into a new ethereal body (cf. 1 Cor 15:36-37). 2 Corinthians seems to be even clearer when Paul says in 2 Cor 5:1 that “the earthly tent we live in is destroyed (kataluthē)” and in 2 Cor 5:3, where Paul says that the earthly body “will be taken off (ekdysamenoi).” Thus, the source of the resurrected body is not the present earthly body, but it will be brought from heaven (2 Cor 5:2).(1) On 1 Corinthians 15:44, what Paul has in mind when he says "it is raised a spiritual body" is a physical body that is empowered by pneuma, not made by it. The first indication of this is the use of the verb "egeiro." While egeiro appears in some contexts in which the soul is stimulated or roused, "nowhere in classical Greek or in the Greek of Jewish texts does a soul (or spirit) “rise” in a text that describes a resurrection" (John Granger Cook, Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis, Mohr Siebeck, 2018, pp. 36). This was true until gnostic interpreters of the second century (ibid, 36). Furthermore, in 1 Cor 2:14-15, Paul makes a similar distinction between psychikos and pneumatikos. 1 Cor 2:14-15 says:
Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.It makes no sense imagining Paul speaking about a person composed of soul verses those composed of pneuma. The adjective pneumatikos is used to refer to people or things empowered by the Spirit of God, such as: palpable manna and water (10:3–4), a tangible rock (10:4), and flesh and blood human beings (3:1; 14:37). Used with soma in 15:44, pneumatikos indicates that the risen body will be a physical body empowered by pneuma. James P. Ware writes:
The adjective that Paul here contrasts with πνευματικός is not σάρκινος (cognate with σάρξ), referring to the flesh, but ψυχικός (cognate with ψυχή), referring to the soul. This adjective is used in texts outside the NT, without exception, with reference to the properties or activities of the soul (e.g., 4 Macc 1:32; Aristotle, Eth. nic. 3.10.2; Epictetus, Diatr. 3.7.5–7; Plutarch, Plac. philos. 1.8). Modifying σῶμα as here, with reference to the present body, the adjective describes this body as given life or activity by the soul. The adjective has nothing to do with the body’s composition but denotes the source of the mortal body’s life and activity.(Ware, "Paul's Understanding of the Resurrection," pp. 832).
What is often missed is the critical significance of verse 39 for our understanding of resurrection in Paul. For the juxtaposition of 15:39 with 15:37 and 15:40–41 shows that here, reflecting the normal usage of Paul’s Greek-speaking audience, “flesh” (sarx) and “body” (sōma) function as synonymous terms for the human body. Paul’s analogy in 15:36–41 assumes both that the risen body will be a body (15:37–38, 40–41) and that it will be composed of flesh (15:39). Paul’s reminder of the various kinds of flesh (15:39), bodies (15:40), and bodily splendor (15:41) functions to prepare the reader for the depiction of transformed embodiment to follow in 15:42–54, in which the risen body of flesh is differentiated from its mortal counterpart not by change of substance, but by its freedom from weakness, mortality, and decay.(James P. Ware, Paul's Theology in Context, Eerdmans, 2019, pp. 213-214)
The sower went out and cast into the ground each of the seeds, which falling on the ground dry and naked decay. Then out of decay, the magnificence of the master’s providence raises them up, and from one seed more grow and produce fruit. (1 Clem 24:2)"Clement’s imagery is physical, and the seeds are not naked souls, nor does he include any Stoic metaphors" (ibid, 308). 3 Corinthians says:
For they do not know, Corinthians, that the seed of wheat or other varieties, which are cast into the ground naked and which decay below, are raised by the will of God in body and clothed; so that not only is the body raised that was cast (into the ground), but it is abounding, upright, and blessed. (3Cor = AcPlCor 2:26–27)3 Corinthian's imagery is clearly a flesh and bones resurrection.
“flesh and blood” – in particular its use as a rabbinic expression which simply refers to human nature in its fragility and not simply to “physical flesh.” An early rabbinic example is from the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael where Exod 12:12 “I am the Lord” is explained as “What flesh and blood cannot say” (Mek. Pesach 1:7). Another occurrence is a discussion of Exod 15:1 “I will sing unto the Lord for he is really exalted,” which is explained by an example that begins “when a king of flesh and blood enters a province … (Mek. Shirata 3:1)(John Granger Cook, Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis, Mohr Siebeck, 2018, pp. 585)
उमा (umā)It's also pretty close to om the meditative syllable thought to bring enlightenment. Now the gist of the matter is, ya- does not directly compare to *h2ew-, but one can try. 亞 (ya) is not a sign of the templar knights, but is interpreted as "Asian", where 麻 (ma) more or less depicts hemp hung up to dry as a synonym to flax as it were. It would be appeing then to simply equate ya with "east", but a more trivial solution can be found in it's use as "kinship prefix" as for common cultivar, garden variety, whereas the reconstruction OC /ʔˁrak-s/ seems quite different anyway, and MC ‹ ʔæH › a little too late (the pronounciation as *ya stems from a more common compound sign "brother, son-in-law" reading the cross therein as phonetic component), and the meaning "Asia" is just short for 亞細亞, a transcription of Greek asia. Lol whut? And what about China or Sina?
flax
linseed
light
splendor
fame
reputation
night
tranquility
WHEN confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd. The Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that meat is the food of strong men. Thoughtlessness is almost synonymous with childishness, while thoughtfulness is symbolic of maturity. submitted by CuteBananaMuffin to conspiracy [link] [comments] There are, however, but few mature minds in the world; and thus it was that the philosophic-religious doctrines of the pagans were divided to meet the needs of these two fundamental groups of human intellect--one philosophic, the other incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of life. To the discerning few were revealed the esoteric, or spiritual, teachings, while the unqualified many received only the literal, or exoteric, interpretations. In order to make simple the great truths of Nature and the abstract principles of natural law, the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and goddesses of the ancient mythologies. While the ignorant multitudes brought their offerings to the altars of Priapus and Pan (deities representing the procreative energies), the wise recognized in these marble statues only symbolic concretions of great abstract truths. In all cities of the ancient world were temples for public worship and offering. In every community also were philosophers and mystics, deeply versed in Nature's lore. These individuals were usually banded together, forming seclusive philosophic and religious schools. The more important of these groups were known as the Mysteries. Many of the great minds of antiquity were initiated into these secret fraternities by strange and mysterious rites, some of which were extremely cruel. Alexander Wilder defines the Mysteries as "Sacred dramas performed at stated periods. The most celebrated were those of Isis, Sabazius, Cybele, and Eleusis." After being admitted, the initiates were instructed in the secret wisdom which had been preserved for ages. Plato, an initiate of one of these sacred orders, was severely criticized because in his writings he revealed to the public many of the secret philosophic principles of the Mysteries. Every pagan nation had (and has) not only its state religion, but another into which the philosophic elect alone have gained entrance. Many of these ancient cults vanished from the earth without revealing their secrets, but a few have survived the test of ages and their mysterious symbols are still preserved. Much of the ritualism of Freemasonry is based on the trials to which candidates were subjected by the ancient hierophants before the keys of wisdom were entrusted to them. Few realize the extent to which the ancient secret schools influenced contemporary intellects and, through those minds, posterity. Robert Macoy, 33°, in his General History of Freemasonry, pays a magnificent tribute to the part played by the ancient Mysteries in the rearing of the edifice of human culture. He says, in part: "It appears that all the perfection of civilization, and all the advancement made in philosophy, science, and art among the ancients are due to those institutions which, under the veil of mystery, sought to illustrate the sublimest truths of religion, morality, and virtue, and impress them on the hearts of their disciples.* * * Their chief object was to teach the doctrine of one God, the resurrection of man to eternal life, the dignity of the human soul, and to lead the people to see the shadow of the deity, in the beauty, magnificence, and splendor of the universe." With the decline of virtue, which has preceded the destruction of every nation of history, the Mysteries became perverted. Sorcery took the place of the divine magic. Indescribable practices (such as the Bacchanalia) were introduced, and perversion ruled supreme; for no institution can be any better than the members of which it is composed. In despair, the few who were true sought to preserve the secret doctrines from oblivion. In some cases they succeeded, but more often the arcanum was lost and only the empty shell of the Mysteries remained. Thomas Taylor has written, "Man is naturally a religious animal." From the earliest dawning of his consciousness, man has worshiped and revered things as symbolic of the invisible, omnipresent, indescribable Thing, concerning which he could discover practically nothing. The pagan Mysteries opposed the Christians during the early centuries of their church, declaring that the new faith (Christianity) did not demand virtue and integrity as requisites for salvation. Celsus expressed himself on the subject in the following caustic terms: "That I do not, however, accuse the Christians more bitterly than truth compels, may be conjectured from hence, that the cryers who call men to other mysteries proclaim as follows: 'Let him approach whose hands are pure, and whose words are wise.' And again, others proclaim: 'Let him approach who is pure from all wickedness, whose soul is not conscious of any evil, and who leads a just and upright life.' And these things are proclaimed by those who promise a purification from error. Let us now hear who those are that are called to the Christian mysteries: Whoever is a sinner, whoever is unwise, whoever is a fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the kingdom of God will receive. Do you not, therefore, call a sinner, an unjust man, a thief, a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious, and a robber of sepulchres? What other persons would the cryer nominate, who should call robbers together?"It was not the true faith of the early Christian mystics that Celsus attacked, but the false forms that were creeping in even during his day. The ideals of early Christianity were based upon the high moral standards of the pagan Mysteries, and the first Christians who met under the city of Rome used as their places of worship the subterranean temples of Mithras, from whose cult has been borrowed much of the sacerdotalism of the modem church. The ancient philosophers believed that no man could live intelligently who did not have a fundamental knowledge of Nature and her laws. Before man can obey, he must understand, and the Mysteries were devoted to instructing man concerning the operation of divine law in the terrestrial sphere. Few of the early cults actually worshiped anthropomorphic deities, although their symbolism might lead one to believe they did. They were moralistic rather than religionistic; philosophic rather than theologic. They taught man to use his faculties more intelligently, to be patient in the face of adversity, to be courageous when confronted by danger, to be true in the midst of temptation, and, most of all, to view a worthy life as the most acceptable sacrifice to God, and his body as an altar sacred to the Deity. Sun worship played an important part in nearly all the early pagan Mysteries. This indicates the probability of their Atlantean origin, for the people of Atlantis were sun worshipers. The Solar Deity was usually personified as a beautiful youth, with long golden hair to symbolize the rays of the sun. This golden Sun God was slain by wicked ruffians, who personified the evil principle of the universe. By means of certain rituals and ceremonies, symbolic of purification and regeneration, this wonderful God of Good was brought back to life and became the Savior of His people. The secret processes whereby He was resurrected symbolized those cultures by means of which man is able to overcome his lower nature, master his appetites, and give expression to the higher side of himself. The Mysteries were organized for the purpose of assisting the struggling human creature to reawaken the spiritual powers which, surrounded by the flaming. A FEMALE HIEROPHANT OF THE MYSTERIES From Montfaucon's Antiquities. This illustration shows Cybele, here called the Syrian Goddess, in the robes of a hierophant. Montfaucon describes the figure as follows: "Upon her head is an episcopal mitre, adorned on the lower part with towers and pinnacles; over the gate of the city is a crescent, and beneath the circuit of the walls a crown of rays. The Goddess wears a sort of surplice, exactly like the surplice of a priest or bishop; and upon the surplice a tunic, which falls down to the legs; and over all an episcopal cope, with the twelve signs of the Zodiac wrought on the borders. The figure hath a lion on each side, and holds in its left hand a Tympanum, a Sistrum, a Distaff, a Caduceus, and another instrument. In her right hand she holds with her middle finger a thunderbolt, and upon the same am animals, insects, and, as far as we may guess, flowers, fruit, a bow, a quiver, a torch, and a scythe." The whereabouts of the statue is unknown, the copy reproduced by Montfaucon being from drawings by Pirro Ligorio. ring of lust and degeneracy, lay asleep within his soul. In other words, man was offered a way by which he could regain his lost estate. (See Wagner's Siegfried.) In the ancient world, nearly all the secret societies were philosophic and religious. During the mediæval centuries, they were chiefly religious and political, although a few philosophic schools remained. In modern times, secret societies, in the Occidental countries, are largely political or fraternal, although in a few of them, as in Masonry, the ancient religious and philosophic principles still survive. Space prohibits a detailed discussion of the secret schools. There were literally scores of these ancient cults, with branches in all parts of the Eastern and Western worlds. Some, such as those of Pythagoras and the Hermetists, show a decided Oriental influence, while the Rosicrucians, according to their own proclamations, gained much of their wisdom from Arabian mystics. Although the Mystery schools are usually associated with civilization, there is evidence that the most uncivilized peoples of prehistoric times had a knowledge of them. Natives of distant islands, many in the lowest forms of savagery, have mystic rituals and secret practices which, although primitive, are of a decided Masonic tinge. THE DRUIDIC MYSTERIES OF BRITAIN AND GAUL"The original and primitive inhabitants of Britain, at some remote period, revived and reformed their national institutes. Their priest, or instructor, had hitherto been simply named Gwydd, but it was considered to have become necessary to divide this office between the national, or superior, priest and another whose influence [would] be more limited. From henceforth the former became Der-Wydd (Druid), or superior instructor, and [the latter] Go-Wydd, or O-Vydd (Ovate), subordinate instructor; and both went by the general name of Beirdd (Bards), or teachers of wisdom. As the system matured and augmented, the Bardic Order consisted of three classes, the Druids, Beirdd Braint, or privileged Bards, and Ovates." (See Samuel Meyrick and Charles Smith, The Costume of The Original Inhabitants of The British Islands.)The origin of the word Druid is under dispute. Max Müller believes that, like the Irish word Drui, it means "the men of the oak trees." He further draws attention to the fact that the forest gods and tree deities of the Greeks were called dryades. Some believe the word to be of Teutonic origin; others ascribe it to the Welsh. A few trace it to the Gaelic druidh, which means "a wise man" or "a sorcerer." In Sanskrit the word dru means "timber." At the time of the Roman conquest, the Druids were thoroughly ensconced in Britain and Gaul. Their power over the people was unquestioned, and there were instances in which armies, about to attack each other, sheathed their swords when ordered to do so by the white-robed Druids. No undertaking of great importance was scatted without the assistance of these patriarchs, who stood as mediators between the gods and men. The Druidic Order is deservedly credited with having had a deep understanding of Nature and her laws. The Encyclopædia Britannica states that geography, physical science, natural theology, and astrology were their favorite studies. The Druids had a fundamental knowledge of medicine, especially the use of herbs and simples. Crude surgical instruments also have been found in England and Ireland. An odd treatise on early British medicine states that every practitioner was expected to have a garden or back yard for the growing of certain herbs necessary to his profession. Eliphas Levi, the celebrated transcendentalist, makes the following significant statement: "The Druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism and charging amylets with their fluidic influence. Their universal remedies were mistletoe and serpents' eggs, because these substances attract the astral light in a special manner. The solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down drew upon this plant the popular confidence and rendered it powerfully magnetic. * * * The progress of magnetism will some day reveal to us the absorbing properties of mistletoe. We shall then understand the secret of those spongy growths which drew the unused virtues of plants and become surcharged with tinctures and savors. Mushrooms, truffles, gall on trees, and the different kinds of mistletoe will be employed with understanding by a medical science, which will be new because it is old * * * but one must not move quicker than science, which recedes that it may advance the further. " (See The History of Magic.)Not only was the mistletoe sacred as symbolic of the universal medicine, or panacea, but also because of the fact that it grew upon the oak tree. Through the symbol of the oak, the Druids worshiped the Supreme Deity; therefore, anything growing upon that tree was sacred to Him. At certain seasons, according to the positions of the sun, moon, and stars, the Arch-Druid climbed the oak tree and cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle consecrated for that service. The parasitic growth was caught in white cloths provided for the purpose, lest it touch the earth and be polluted by terrestrial vibrations. Usually a sacrifice of a white bull was made under the tree. The Druids were initiates of a secret school that existed in their midst. This school, which closely resembled the Bacchic and Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece or the Egyptian rites of Isis and Osiris, is justly designated the Druidic Mysteries. There has been much speculation concerning the secret wisdom that the Druids claimed to possess. Their secret teachings were never written, but were communicated orally to specially prepared candidates. Robert Brown, 32°, is of the opinion that the British priests secured their information from Tyrian and Phœnician navigators who, thousands of years before the Christian Era, established colonies in Britain and Gaul while searching for tin. Thomas Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, discourses at length on Phœnician, Carthaginian, and Greek expeditions to the British Isles for the purpose of procuring tin. Others are of the opinion that the Mysteries as celebrated by the Druids were of Oriental origin, possibly Buddhistic. The proximity of the British Isles to the lost Atlantis may account for the sun worship which plays an important part in the rituals of Druidism. According to Artemidorus, Ceres and Persephone were worshiped on an island close to Britain with rites and ceremonies similar to those of Samothrace. There is no doubt that the Druidic Pantheon includes a large number of Greek and Roman deities. This greatly amazed Cæsar during his conquest of Britain and Gaul, and caused him to affirm that these tribes adored Mercury, Apollo, Mars, and Jupiter, in a manner similar to that of the Latin countries. It is almost certain that the Druidic Mysteries were not indigenous to Britain or Gaul, but migrated from one of the more ancient civilizations. The school of the Druids was divided into three distinct parts, and the secret teachings embodied therein are practically the same as the mysteries concealed under the allegories of Blue Lodge Masonry. The lowest of the three divisions was that of Ovate (Ovydd). This was an honorary degree, requiring no special purification or preparation. The Ovates dressed in green, the Druidic color of learning, and were expected to know something about medicine, astronomy, poetry if possible, and sometimes music. An Ovate was an individual admitted to the Druidic Order because of his general excellence and superior knowledge concerning the problems of life. The second division was that of Bard (Beirdd). Its members were robed in sky-blue, to represent harmony and truth, and to them was assigned the labor of memorizing, at least in part, the twenty thousand verses of Druidic sacred poetry. They were often pictured with the primitive British or Irish harp--an instrument strung with human hair, and having as many strings as there were ribs on one side of the human body. These Bards were often chosen as teachers of candidates seeking entrance into the Druidic Mysteries. Neophytes wore striped robes of blue, green, and white, these being the three sacred colors of the Druidic Order. The third division was that of Druid (Derwyddon). Its particular labor was to minister to the religious needs of the people. To reach this dignity, the candidate must first become a Bard Braint. The Druids always dressed in white--symbolic of their purity, and the color used by them to symbolize the sun. In order to reach the exalted position of Arch-Druid, or spiritual head of the organization, it was necessary for a priest to pass through the six successive degrees of the Druidic Order. (The members of the different degrees were differentiated by the colors of their sashes, for all of them wore robes of white.) Some writers are of the opinion that the title of Arch-Druid was hereditary, descending from father to son, but it is more probable that the honor was conferred by ballot election. Its recipient was chosen for his virtues and THE ARCH-DRUID IN HIS CEREMONIAL ROBES. From Wellcome's Ancient Cymric Medicine. The most striking adornment of the Arch-Druid was the iodhan moran, or breastplate of judgment, which possessed the mysterious Power of strangling any who made an untrue statement while wearing it. Godfrey Higgins states that this breastplate was put on the necks of witnesses to test the veracity of their evidence. The Druidic tiara, or anguinum, its front embossed with a number of points to represent the sun's rays, indicated that the priest was a personification of the rising sun. On the front of his belt the Arch-Druid wore the liath meisicith--a magic brooch, or buckle in the center of which was a large white stone. To this was attributed the power of drawing the fire of the gods down from heaven at the priest's command This specially cut stone was a burning glass, by which the sun's rays were concentrated to light the altar fires. The Druids also had other symbolic implements, such as the peculiarly shaped golden sickle with which they cut the mistletoe from the oak, and the cornan, or scepter, in the form of a crescent, symbolic of the sixth day of the increasing moon and also of the Ark of Noah. An early initiate of the Druidic Mysteries related that admission to their midnight ceremony was gained by means of a glass boat, called Cwrwg Gwydrin. This boat symbolized the moon, which, floating upon the waters of eternity, preserved the seeds of living creatures within its boatlike crescent. integrity from the most learned members of the higher Druidic degrees. According to James Gardner, there were usually two Arch-Druids in Britain, one residing on the Isle of Anglesea and the other on the Isle of Man. Presumably there were others in Gaul. These dignitaries generally carried golden scepters and were crowned with wreaths of oak leaves, symbolic of their authority. The younger members of the Druidic Order were clean-shaven and modestly dressed, but the more aged had long gray beards and wore magnificent golden ornaments. The educational system of the Druids in Britain was superior to that of their colleagues on the Continent, and consequently many of the Gallic youths were sent to the Druidic colleges in Britain for their philosophical instruction and training. Eliphas Levi states that the Druids lived in strict abstinence, studied the natural sciences, preserved the deepest secrecy, and admitted new members only after long probationary periods. Many of the priests of the order lived in buildings not unlike the monasteries of the modern world. They were associated in groups like ascetics of the Far East. Although celibacy was not demanded of them, few married. Many of the Druids retired from the world and lived as recluses in caves, in rough-stone houses, or in little shacks built in the depths of a forest. Here they prayed and medicated, emerging only to perform their religious duties. James Freeman Clarke, in his Ten Great Religions, describes the beliefs of the Druids as follows: "The Druids believed in three worlds and in transmigration from one to the other: In a world above this, in which happiness predominated; a world below, of misery; and this present state. This transmigration was to punish and reward and also to purify the soul. In the present world, said they, Good and Evil are so exactly balanced that man has the utmost freedom and is able to choose or reject either. The Welsh Triads tell us there are three objects of metempsychosis: to collect into the soul the properties of all being, to acquire a knowledge of all things, and to get power to conquer evil. There are also, they say, three kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the nature of each thing, of its cause, and its influence. There are three things which continually grow less: darkness, falsehood, and death. There are three which constantly increase: light, life, and truth." Like nearly all schools of the Mysteries, the teachings of the Druids were divided into two distinct sections. The simpler, a moral code, was taught to all the people, while the deeper, esoteric doctrine was given only to initiated priests. To be admitted to the order, a candidate was required to be of good family and of high moral character. No important secrets were intrusted to him until he had been tempted in many ways and his strength of character severely tried. The Druids taught the people of Britain and Gaul concerning the immortality of the soul. They believed in transmigration and apparently in reincarnation. They borrowed in one life, promising to pay back in the next. They believed in a purgatorial type of hell where they would be purged of their sins, afterward passing on to the happiness of unity with the gods. The Druids taught that all men would be saved, but that some must return to earth many times to learn the lessons of human life and to overcome the inherent evil of their own natures. Before a candidate was intrusted with the secret doctrines of the Druids, he was bound with a vow of secrecy. These doctrines were imparted only in the depths of forests and in the darkness of caves. In these places, far from the haunts of men, the neophyte was instructed concerning the creation of the universe, the personalities of the gods, the laws of Nature, the secrets of occult medicine, the mysteries of the celestial bodies, and the rudiments of magic and sorcery. The Druids had a great number of feast days. The new and full moon and the sixth day of the moon were sacred periods. It is believed that initiations took place only at the two solstices and the two equinoxes. At dawn of the 25th day of December, the birth of the Sun God was celebrated. The secret teachings of the Druids are said by some to be tinctured with Pythagorean philosophy. The Druids had a Madonna, or Virgin Mother, with a Child in her arms, who was sacred to their Mysteries; and their Sun God was resurrected at the time of the year corresponding to that at which modern Christians celebrate Easter. Both the cross and the serpent were sacred to the Druids, who made the former by cutting off all the branches of an oak tree and fastening one of them to the main trunk in the form of the letter T. This oaken cross became symbolic of their superior Deity. They also worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. The moon received their special veneration. Caesar stated that Mercury was one of the chief deities of the Gauls. The Druids are believed to have worshiped Mercury under the similitude of a stone cube. They also had great veneration for the Nature spirits (fairies, gnomes, and undines), little creatures of the forests and rivers to whom many offerings were made. Describing the temples of the Druids, Charles Heckethorn, in The Secret Societies of All Ages & Countries, says: "Their temples wherein the sacred fire was preserved were generally situate on eminences and in dense groves of oak, and assumed various forms--circular, because a circle was the emblem of the universe; oval, in allusion to the mundane egg, from which issued, according to the traditions of many nations, the universe, or, according to others, our first parents; serpentine, because a serpent was the symbol of Hu, the Druidic Osiris; cruciform, because a cross is an emblem of regeneration; or winged, to represent the motion of the Divine Spirit. * * * Their chief deities were reducible to two--a male and a female, the great father and mother--Hu and Ceridwen, distinguished by the same characteristics as belong to Osiris and Isis, Bacchus and Ceres, or any other supreme god and goddess representing the two principles of all Being."Godfrey Higgins states that Hu, the Mighty, regarded as the first settler of Britain, came from a place which the Welsh Triads call the Summer Country, the present site of Constantinople. Albert Pike says that the Lost Word of Masonry is concealed in the name of the Druid god Hu. The meager information extant concerning the secret initiations of the Druids indicates a decided similarity between their Mystery school and the schools of Greece and Egypt. Hu, the Sun God, was murdered and, after a number of strange ordeals and mystic rituals, was restored to life. There were three degrees of the Druidic Mysteries, but few successfully passed them all. The candidate was buried in a coffin, as symbolic of the death of the Sun God. The supreme test, however, was being sent out to sea in an open boat. While undergoing this ordeal, many lost their lives. Taliesin, an ancient scholar, who passed through the Mysteries, describes the initiation of the open boat in Faber's Pagan Idolatry. The few who passed this third degree were said to have been "born again," and were instructed in the secret and hidden truths which the Druid priests had preserved from antiquity. From these initiates were chosen many of the dignitaries of the British religious and political world. (For further details, see Faber's Pagan Idolatry, Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, and Godfrey Higgins' Celtic Druids.) THE RITES OF MITHRASWhen the Persian Mysteries immigrated into Southern Europe, they were quickly assimilated by the Latin mind. The cult grew rapidly, especially among the Roman soldiery, and during the Roman wars of conquest the teachings were carried by the legionaries to nearly all parts of Europe. So powerful did the cult of Mithras become that at least one Roman Emperor was initiated into the order, which met in caverns under the city of Rome. Concerning the spread of this Mystery school through different parts of Europe, C. W. King, in his Gnostics and Their Remains, says:"Mithraic bas-reliefs cut on the faces of rocks or on stone tablets still abound in the countries formerly the western provinces of the Roman Empire; many exist in Germany, still more in France, and in this island (Britain) they have often been discovered on the line of the Picts' Wall and the noted one at Bath."Alexander Wilder, in his Philosophy and Ethics of the Zoroasters, states that Mithras is the Zend title for the sun, and he is supposed to dwell within that shining orb. Mithras has a male and a female aspect, though not himself androgynous. As Mithras, he is the ford of the sun, powerful and radiant, and most magnificent of the Yazatas (Izads, or Genii, of the sun). As Mithra, this deity represents the feminine principle; the mundane universe is recognized as her symbol. She represents Nature as receptive and terrestrial, and as fruitful only when bathed in the glory of the solar orb. The Mithraic cult is a simplification of the more elaborate teachings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the Persian fire magician. THE GROUND PLAN OF STONEHENGE. From Maurice's Indian Antiquities. The Druid temples of places of religious worship were not patterned after those of other nations. Most of their ceremonies were performed at night, either in thick groves of oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. How these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisfactorily explained. The most famous of their altars, a great stone ring of rocks, is Stonehenge, in Southwestern England. This structure, laid out on an astronomical basis, still stands, a wonder of antiquity. According to the Persians, there coexisted in eternity two principles. The first of these, Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd, was the Spirit of Good. From Ormuzd came forth a number of hierarchies of good and beautiful spirits (angels and archangels). The second of these eternally existing principles was called Ahriman. He was also a pure and beautiful spirit, but he later rebelled against Ormuzd, being jealous of his power. This did not occur, however, until after Ormuzd had created light, for previously Ahriman had not been conscious of the existence of Ormuzd. Because of his jealousy and rebellion, Ahriman became the Spirit of Evil. From himself he individualized a host of destructive creatures to injure Ormuzd. When Ormuzd created the earth, Ahriman entered into its grosser elements. Whenever Ormuzd did a good deed, Ahriman placed the principle of evil within it. At last when Ormuzd created the human race, Ahriman became incarnate in the lower nature of man so that in each personality the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil struggle for control. For 3,000 years Ormuzd ruled the celestial worlds with light and goodness. Then he created man. For another 3,000 years he ruled man with wisdom, and integrity. Then the power of Ahriman began, and the struggle for the soul of man continues through the next period of 3,000 years. During the fourth period of 3,000 years, the power of Ahriman will be destroyed. Good will return to the world again, evil and death will be vanquished, and at last the Spirit of Evil will bow humbly before the throne of Ormuzd. While Ormuzd and Ahriman are struggling for control of the human soul and for supremacy in Nature, Mithras, God of Intelligence, stands as mediator between the two. Many authors have noted the similarity between mercury and Mithras. As the chemical mercury acts as a solvent (according to alchemists), so Mithras seeks to harmonize the two celestial opposites. There are many points of resemblance between Christianity and the cult of Mithras. One of the reasons for this probably is that the Persian mystics invaded Italy during the first century after Christ and the early history of both cults was closely interwoven. The Encyclopædia Britannica makes the following statement concerning the Mithraic and Christian Mysteries: "The fraternal and democratic spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the legends of the shepherds with their gifts and adoration, the flood, and the ark; the representation in art of the fiery chariot, the drawing of water from the rock; the use of bell and candle, holy water and the communion; the sanctification of Sunday and of the 25th of December; the insistence on moral conduct, the emphasis placed on abstinence and self-control; the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation, of the mediation of the Logos emanating from the divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant warfare between good and evil and the final triumph of the former, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery destruction of the universe--[these] are some of the resemblances which, whether real or only apparent, enabled Mithraism to prolong its resistance to Christianity,"The rites of Mithras were performed in caves. Porphyry, in his Cave of the Nymphs, states that Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the first to consecrate a cave to the worship of God, because a cavern was symbolic of the earth, or the lower world of darkness. John P. Lundy, in his Monumental Christianity, describes the cave of Mithras as follows: "But this cave was adorned with the signs of the zodiac, Cancer and Capricorn. The summer and winter solstices were chiefly conspicuous, as the gates of souls descending into this life, or passing out of it in their ascent to the Gods; Cancer being the gate of descent, and Capricorn of ascent. These are the two avenues of the immortals passing up and down from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth."The so-called chair of St. Peter, in Rome, was believed to have been used in one of the pagan Mysteries, possibly that of Mithras, in whose subterranean grottoes the votaries of the Christian Mysteries met in the early days of their faith. In Anacalypsis, Godfrey Higgins writes that in 1662, while cleaning this sacred chair of Bar-Jonas, the Twelve Labors of Hercules were discovered upon it, and that later the French discovered upon the same chair the Mohammedan confession of faith, written in Arabic. Initiation into the rites of Mithras, like initiation into many other ancient schools of philosophy, apparently consisted of three important degrees. Preparation for these degrees consisted of self-purification, the building up of the intellectual powers, and the control of the animal nature. In the first degree the candidate was given a crown upon the point of a sword and instructed in the mysteries of Mithras' hidden power. Probably he was taught that the golden crown represented his own spiritual nature, which must be objectified and unfolded before he could truly glorify Mithras; for Mithras was his own soul, standing as mediator between Ormuzd, his spirit, and Ahriman, his animal nature. In the second degree he was given the armor of intelligence and purity and sent into the darkness of subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust, passion, and degeneracy. In the third degree he was given a cape, upon which were drawn or woven the signs of the zodiac and other astronomical symbols. After his initiations were over, he was hailed as one who had risen from the dead, was instructed in the secret teachings of the Persian mystics, and became a full-fledged member of the order. Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions and were marked upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. Mithras himself is often pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. Throughout the entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of Mithras as the Sun God, his sacrifice for man, his death that men might have eternal life, and lastly, his resurrection and the saving of all humanity by his intercession before the throne of Ormuzd. (See Heckethorn.) While the cult of Mithras did not reach the philosophic heights attained by Zarathustra, its effect upon the civilization of the Western world was far-reaching, for at one time nearly all Europe was converted to its doctrines. Rome, in her intercourse with other nations, inoculated them with her religious principles; and many later institutions have exhibited Mithraic culture. The reference to the "Lion" and the "Grip of the Lion's Paw" in the Master Mason's degree have a strong Mithraic tinge and may easily have originated from this cult. A ladder of seven rungs appears in the Mithraic initiation. Faber is of the opinion that this ladder was originally a pyramid of seven steps. It is possible that the Masonic ladder with seven rungs had its origin in this Mithraic symbol. Women were never permitted to enter the Mithraic Order, but children of the male sex were initiates long before they reached maturity. The refusal to permit women to join the Masonic Order may be based on the esoteric reason given in the secret instructions of the Mithraics. This cult is another excellent example of those secret societies whose legends are largely symbolic representations of the sun and his journey through the houses of the heavens. Mithras, rising from a stone, is merely the sun rising over the horizon, or, as the ancients supposed, out of the horizon, at the vernal equinox. John O'Neill disputes the theory that Mithras was intended as a solar deity. In The Night of the Gods he writes: "The Avestan Mithra, the yazata of light, has '10,000 eyes, high, with full knowledge (perethuvaedayana), strong, sleepless and ever awake (jaghaurvaunghem).'The supreme god Ahura Mazda also has one Eye, or else it is said that 'with his eyes, the sun, moon and stars, he sees everything.' The theory that Mithra was originally a title of the supreme heavens-god--putting the sun out of court--is the only one that answers all requirements. It will be evident that here we have origins in abundance for the Freemason's Eye and 'its nunquam dormio.'" The reader must nor confuse the Persian Mithra with the Vedic Mitra. According to Alexander Wilder, "The Mithraic rites superseded the Mysteries of Bacchus, and became the foundation of the Gnostic system, which for many centuries prevailed in Asia, Egypt, and even the remote West." MITHRAS SLAYING THE BULL. From Lundy's Monumental Christianity. The most famous sculpturings and reliefs of this prototokos show Mithras kneeling upon the recumbent form of a great bull, into whose throat he is driving a sword. The slaying of the bull signifies that the rays of the sun, symbolized by the sword, release at the vernal equinox the vital essences of the earth--the blood of the bull--which, pouring from the wound made by the Sun God, fertilize the seeds of living things. Dogs were held sacred to the cult of Mithras, being symbolic of sincerity and trustworthiness. The Mithraics used the serpent a an emblem of Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil, and water rats were held sacred to him. The bull is esoterically the Constellation of Taurus; the serpent, its opposite in the zodiac, Scorpio; the sun, Mithras, entering into the side of the bull, slays the celestial creature and nourishes the universe with its blood. THE BIRTH OF MITHRAS. From Montfaucon's Antiquities Mithras was born out of a rock, which, breaking open, permitted him to emerge. This occurred in the darkness of a subterranean chamber. The Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem confirms the theory that Jesus was born in a grotto, or cave. According to Dupuis, Mithras was put to death by crucifixion and rose again on the third day. |
I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!Where Ahab goes, there turbulence will be in his wake, so long as his grandiose task remains his ultimate goal. The men's diversity doesn't faze him:
my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they revolve.High aloft, Ahab can view and move men as "ant-hills of powder", ignitable thanks to Ahab's own fire, that makes his seldom-used pillow into an oven-baked brick. This hellfire leads Ahab to proclaim his apotheosis:
I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That’s more than ye, ye great gods, ever were.Where gods use fate and fortune to move men on the world as their gameboard to achieve their ends, transcendent and detached, Ahab is both player and piece, and strives to cast out fate from within and retake fortune to his own whim and will, to become a self-moved mover. Ahab's soliloquy includes a direct challenge to the gods:
come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there.Ahab fancies himself a river, faithful to the ungraspable impermanence of life, yes, but immovable in his self-set course, the iron rails of his destiny laid out in defiance of all forms of fate other than his own:
Naught’s an obstacle, naught’s an angle to the iron way!Ahab doesn't consider that even his actions could be part of providence, for he's excluded all other purposes than piercing the masked dark of Plato's cave as paths to fulfillment. Active commitment to misery, nothing to blunt it, as though this iron way would falter and betray its fragility otherwise.
the ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife to cut.Starbuck bemoans that Ahab's chief source of hypocrisy is that he would treat his superiors to democracy—though, from the last chapter, only to outwit them, the gods, on an even playing field—but everyone else to his despotism. Starbuck saw Ahab's "lurid woe", a weight that would crush him or any other man to bear, a violent and contagious atheism that Starbuck believes forced him "to obey, rebelling"—to rebel against God, by obeying the man who stands against Him. But God isn't jealous or petty, Starbuck reasons, so He may forgive Ahab and ensure that they never cross paths with the white whale. That's a pittance of hope, after seeing Ahab's determination, and Starbuck isn't ready to acknowledge that despite the leaden, locked weight of his heart evidencing plainly enough that he has no hope of Ahab's woe dissipating before his success or failure.
a laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer; and come what will, one comfort’s always left—that unfailing comfort is, it’s all predestinated.Carefree Stubb is trying to take in stride the outcomes of this voyage, outcomes that are out of his hands, no matter what they be, refracting Starbuck's newfound horror and finding the "waggish leering" that lurks in it—for now Starbuck has received the same treatment that Stubb did, and both men now share in some of the burning light that Ahab harbors, slight shares that were yet enough to send both spiraling into existential crises of reflection—on fate and death and God—higher than either would otherwise ever take interest in.
A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed mine.But Ishmael had a sympathy, whether unrelated or pretextual, before even meeting Ahab; this is halfway to what he wanted, a noble part in a great tragedy. After immersing himself in the death cult, Ishmael gathered all the information he could about the white whale, how it "haunted those uncivilized seas mostly frequented by the Sperm Whale fishermen", how it evaded capture in both body and idea because of the scattered, prolonged, uncoordinated trajectories of the whaling vessels, and how "as of late" attacks by sperm whales "of great ferocity, cunning, and malice" were frequent.
He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.Where Ahab errs most, apart from misunderstanding that the symbolism of literary monsters doesn't work like that—that would be some fine magic if it did—, is that he even sets himself against "all truth with malice in it", refusing to accept the essential reality of evil and in part thereby partaking in evil with his sacrificial machinations.
then it was, that his torn body and gashed soul bled into one another; and so interfusing, made him mad.His bronze, hollow body is the result of optimal decoction to blur the mind-body—and also idea-object—gap, enabling the grandiosity of his plans, himself the cult leader to execute them, his agency turned to instrumentality as he locked himself into the cogwheel of the fate he set for himself, his version of freedom, here—if I am interpreted "living instrument" right—a form of servitude baser and weaker than that of heeding God's plan. And with the bindings of his charisma, those he entrains into his orbit are heretics who lose all of the merit of faith and gain what? Gain the glory, fleeting and perhaps phantasmic, of following a great man? Lose themselves in the constitution of the mythos pseudo-prophetic Ishmael weaves them and himself into?
all my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.—yet he lacked the power to alter truth, only to deceiving men about his sanity—or, as Peleg, happily overlooking his moodiness for the whales it would butcher.
The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his pick?Ishmael is unequipped to analyze the unconscious, inward, homuncular workings of fate—but his instincts told him to learn about Ahab before boarding, and he didn't listen.
Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.Whiteness is a harpooneer of the void, piercing the soul with "the thought of annihilation", "a dumb blankness, full of meaning", "a colorless, all-colour of atheism", the truth behind the meretricious veil of coloration—the "mystical cosmetic" of light is white, its mediums birthing color. White is the splendor of God and the pallor of His absence, the lack of an in-between, the profound, profane indistinction between the two, and the metaphysic impli(cat)ed thereby. Ishmael has well-earned his mic drop: "And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?"
these spiritual throes in him heaved his being up from its base, and a chasm seemed opening in him, from which forked flames and lightnings shot up, and accursed fiends beckoned him to leap down among them—incubating this inward hell is the source and secret of Ahab's monstrous power, but these outbursts stemmed from his soul, dissociated in sleep from the iron leash of his mind to flee from his purpose, which had gained "self-assumed, independent being of its own", that malign purpose incarnating both Prometheus and his vultures gnawing away his spirit's organs, leaving it "without an object to colour, and therefore a blankness in itself." Ahab is the very monster he's promised to destroy, bending not just fate but chance and spirit to his will, and so gripped by trauma that his freedom of will—or its exercise here—is dubious at best.
Me miserable! which way shall I flieInfinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?Which way I flie is Hell; my self am Hell;And in the lowest deep a lower deepStill threatning to devour me opens wide,To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n.He's staked his identity so deeply in his retribution against God and fate that if he gave that up he would have a very, very long road to redemption. Despite his capacity, he is hollow; from the start, he was prepared to abandon his family, sacrifice his crew, and do absolutely anything necessary to strike into the depths of the heart of the world. At the same time, his moral failures are why Ishmael is here writing this story. There's enough foreshadowing to conclude that the Pequod is going to sink because of Moby Dick and Ahab's brazen tyranny, which means that Ishmael survived to tell the story. Is there a reason for that, somewhere in the tangled white knot of various concepts of fate that have been threaded together and in which free will, foreknowledge, and chance have snaked their ways? A project as large as this novel implies that he found his will to live, if he's sitting down and committing to it; and it's not a project that would be feasible to work on at sea, with how hard sailors seem to be worked. Moreover, someone would need a compelling reason to undertake such a story. Whatever happened to Ishmael on the voyage must've been something profound.
-1. How he disgraces [יעיב, Yah`eeYB] in his fury [באפו, Be’ahPO], my Lords, [את, ’ehTh] Daughter TseeYON, sent forth from skies [to] land,Distress [צערה, *Tsah`ahRaH] of TseeYON [Zion], their fall [נגרם, NahGRahM] upon hands of the Name [ה', Hah’]
“The word יעיב [YaheeYB*] is regularly derived from עוב [*OoB], ‘to becloud,’ but it is better derived, with Ehrlich, et al. [and others], from a middle yôdh root which is found in Arabic and means ‘to disgrace.’ As it stands, the verb is frequentative imperfect, but the LXX [the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] reads the perfect. The splendor of Israel may be the temple (cf. [compare with] Isa [Isaiah]. 64:11 [Hebrew 64:10]) or the city (cf. Isa. 13:19), cast down like a falling star (cf. Isa. 14:12) …” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 16)-2. Swallowed [בלע, *BeeLah*], my Lords, **no pity**, [את, *’ehTh*] all habitations [נאות, *Ne’OTh*] [of] Yah-ahQoB ["YHVH Followed", Jacob];
“His footstool] The ark of the covenant…” (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. IV 150)
“The verb בלע [BeeLah`], he hath swallowed up… appears again in vss. [verses] 5, 8, 16. The clauseחמל לא [Lo‘ HahMahL], without mercy… is in the adverbial accusative of manner, lit. [literally], ‘in that he did not show mercy’ … The same construction appears again in vss. 17, 21; 3:43. The word חלל [HeeLayL], ‘he has degraded’… is taken with the preceding verb by the RSV [Revised Standard Version] as adverbial, in dishonor, but this is contrary to the accents and it spoils the parallelism… The meter is clearly 2+3.” (Meek, 1956, pp. VI 16-17)-3. Hewed [גדע, GahDah`] in flared [בחרי, BahHahReeY] nostril every horn [of] YeeSRah-’ayL,
“The might is, lit., the horn, a frequent symbol of strength in the O.T. [Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible] (again in vs. [verse] 17)… The meter of the last line is 2+2+2… The last stich is a relative clause, with the relative particle understood and the verb is in the perfect of experience, ‘which consumes the neighborhood’…” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 17)-4. Drew [דרך, DahRahKh] his bow, like an enemy,
“As regularly set up, this verse lacks a final stich… All the pride of our eyes: Lit., ‘all the desirable ones of the eye’…the first word being the same as that used of inanimate things in 1:10-11 (cf. 1:7), ‘treasures’.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 17)-5. Was, my Lords, like an enemy,
“The כ [K, “like, as”] here expresses identity (usually called the kaph veritatis… it is better to call it the asservative kaph… ‘The Lord has really become an enemy’ or ‘has become a veritable enemy.’ The word ארמנותיה [‘ahRMeNOThaYHah], her palaces, must be emended to ‘his palaces’ to agree with his strongholds and the masculine antecedent of both, Israel [nah; I think the antecedent is Jerusalem]. Mourning and lamentation: Better, ‘mourning and moaning’… because this brings out the paronomasia1 of the original [תאניה ואניה Tah‘ahNYaH Vah‘ahNYaH].” (Meek, 1956, pp. VI 17-18)-6. And he violated [ויחמס, VahYahHeMoÇ], like his garden booth [שכו, SooKO],
“The word שכו [SooKO], his booth, is found only here with ש [S] in place of ס [Ç]; it is parallel to [MO`ahDO]… i.e. [in other words], Yahweh destroyed his booth, the temple, as easily and with as little concern as one destroys a booth erected temporarily for shelter in a harvest field (cf. Isa. 1:8).” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 18)-7. Abandoned [זנח, ZahNahH], my Lords, from his altar,
“The word נאר [Nee‘ayR] is found only here and in Ps. [Psalm] 89:39 (Hebrew 89:40), and its meaning, disowned, is a conjecture from the context… A clamor was raised: Lit., ‘they [indefinite] gave a shout’ (cf. Ps. 74:4).” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 18)-8. Thought, YHVH, to ruin [the] walls [of] Daughter TseeYON,
“… he hath stretched out a line, i.e., a plummet line, to discover defects, a figure drawn from building (cf. Amos 7:7-9…). This is a clear example of the 2+3 variant.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 18)-9. They sank [טבעו, TahB`Oo] in [the] land,
“In the word בארץ [Bah‘ahRehTs], into the ground, the ב [B] is both terminative and locative. Since the line is too long metrically, one of the two synonymous verbs in the second stich must be taken as a variant reading, thus giving us a conflate text. The words עין תורה [`ayN [sic for אין, ’ayN] ThORaH], against the M.T. [Masoretic Text, the Hebrew Bible] punctuation, should be taken as a new clause, ‘there is no instruction,’ with the last word referring to priestly instruction, as indicated by the context and by comparison with Jer. 18:18… scarcely the law.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 19)-10. They sit to [the] land,
“The verbs in this line are both imperfect, but most scholars emend with the LXX and O.L. [Old Latin] (plus the Syriac, Vulg. [Vulgate], and Targ. [Targum, the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic commentary on the Hebrew Bible] for the first) to the perfect, to agree with the other verbs in the verse.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 19)They ascended dust [עפר, `ahPhahR] upon their head,
“The last clause in the first line also appears in 1:20… my liver, was regarded by the Hebrews as a seat of the emotions; for the metaphor cf. vs. 19; Ps. 62:8 (Hebrew 62:9). The word בעטף [Bay`ahTayPh], ‘because of the fainting,’ as pointed, is the causal (not temporal) ב [B], plus the Niphal infinitive construct3 , with the syncope of ה [H]; better pointed as Qal4 . In the streets of the city: Lit., ‘in the broad places of the city’; hence, ‘in the city squares’…” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 19)-12. To their mothers they say,
“When their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom] When, in endeavouring to draw nourishment from the breasts of their exhausted mothers, they breathed their last in their bosoms!” (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. IV 151)-13. What will I testify [about] you [אעידך, ’ah`eeYDayKh],
“The verb יאמרו [Yo’MROo] is imperfect to express frequentative action; hence ‘they keep saying’ (Amer. Trans.) …The preposition אל [‘ehL], ‘to,’ should be על [`ahL], on, a frequent mistake in the M.T.” (Meek, 1956, pp. VI 19-20)
“The Qerê [marginal note] אעידך [’aheeYDayKh*; but this is the *Kethîbh* (written text) in my Hebrew Bible] is the Hiphil^5 of עוד [*OoD], which Ehrlich shows appears again in Jer. 49:19 and has the meaning ‘to liken,’ as indicated by the Vulg.: hence, ‘To what can I liken you?’ (Amer. Trans.), exactly parallel to the following stich. The compound vocative, ‘O daughter Jerusalem,’ is unusual… one MS [manuscript] and the LXX have the usual construct O daughter of Jerusalem, as in the next line, O virgin daughter of Zion.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 20)-14. Your prophets envisioned to you worthlessness [שוא, ShahVe’] and failure [ותפל, VeThahPhayL],
“Thy breach is great like the sea] Thou hast a *flood of afflictions, - a sea of troubles, - an ocean of miseries.” (Adam Clarke, 1831, pp. IV 151-152)
“The verb חזו [HahZOo], have seen, is better rendered ‘have divined’… since the root means ‘to see ecstatically.’ False and deceptive visions: Lit., ‘emptiness and whitewash’; hence, ‘stuff and nonsense’… the reference being to the false or professional prophets who did not do their duty by the people but misled them cf. Isa. 3:12…), and so brought them into their misfortune… The word מדוחים [MahDOoHeeYM], found only here, is an abstract plural noun, best translated into English by an adjective, misleading.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 20)-15. They spank [ספקו, ÇahPhQOo] upon you palms, all passers-by [the] way,
“The verb ספקו [ÇahPhQOo] is a perfect of experience, ‘they clap,’ i.e., in malicious delight and mockery (cf. Job 27:23…). The word שיאמרו [ShehYo‘MROo] has the relative particle ש [Sh], in place of the more usual אשר [‘ahShehR], plus an imperfect of customary action, indefinite third person plural; hence, ‘which they used to call.’ The line is a tristich, in 2+3+3, but the last stich may be a marginal gloss from Ps. 48:2 (Hebrew 48:3), or it may be a variant reading, thus giving us a conflate text.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 20)-16. They burst upon you their mouth,
“Five MSS [manuscripts], Lucian, the Syriac, and Arabic have this verse after vs. 17, thus putting the ע [`] and פ [P] stanzas in regular order. Rail against you: Lit., ‘open their mouth against you,’ with this verb and the following three in the perfect of experience.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 21)-17. Did, YHVH, that [which] they had plotted,
“The clause אשר צוה [‘ahShehR TseeVaH] is in the accusative of specification, lit., ‘in the matter of that which he ordained’; hence,as he ordained…” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 21)-18. Shouted, their heart, unto my Lords, wall of Daughter TseeYON,
“The first line as it stands makes no sense… it is very difficult to explain how such a simple text became so corrupt. The word יומם [YOMahM], ‘by day,’ is one of the few adverbs in Hebrew. The word פוגת [PhOoGahTh], respite or rest, found only here, is not construct, but a noun with the old feminine in tāw. Your eyes: Lit., ‘the daughter of your eye,’ i.e., the pupil of the eye according to Ps. 17:8, or perhaps the product of the eye, i.e., tears, as in Arabic (see Edward Robertson, ‘The Apple of the Eye in the Masoretic Text’…). The RSV [Revised Standard Version] makes the verb imperative, but it is in the jussive [a form of a verb expressing an indirect command], as in the KJV [King James Version].” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 21)-19. Arise, chant in night to [the] head [of] guards [אשמרות, ‘ahShMooROTh],
“The words לראש אשמרות [LeRo‘Sh ‘ahShMooROTh], with distributive ל [L] and not point of time… mean ‘as the watches begin,’ i.e., continually through the night, which was divided by the Hebrews into three watches (cf. Judg. [Judges] 7:19). Since this stanza, like 1:7, has four lines, most scholars delete the last line as a gloss based on vs. 12 and 4:1, 4, but it is probable that the M,T. represents a conflate text, with the second line a variant of the first…” (Meek, 1956, pp. VI 21-22)-20. See, YHVH, and look to whom you have done [עוללת, `OLahLThah] thus [כה, KoH],
“This verse and the following two are put in the mouth of the city as the response to the poet’s appeal in vs, 19. The two clauses beginning with אם [‘eeM] are explanatory of כה [KoH], thus, with the alternative use of אם in an interrogative sentence. This verse indicates that Jerusalem was actually reduced to cannibalism in the siege of 586 (cf. 4:10; Jer. 19:9).” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 22)-21. Laid to land, courtyards, youth and elderly,
“The word חוצות [HOoTsOTh] in the M.T. must be in the adverbial accusative, in the streets.” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 22)-22. Call out as a day [of] assembly,
“The verb תקרא [TheeQRaH] is imperfect and may be interpreted as frequentative, ‘Thou didst keep inviting,’ or as an archaism preserving the early preterit, which disappeared from Hebrew prose in the course of time, but survives sporadically in poetry, Thou didst invite… It is used here because it has the initial ת [Th] required by the acrostic scheme. The word מגורי [MeeGOoRah-eeY] may be derived from גור, ‘to sojourn’ (so LXX), but comparison with the expression, ‘terror all around,’ in Jer. 6:25, et al., indicates that it is better derived from גור, ‘to fear,’ with the subjective suffix (so Syriac and Vulg.), ‘those whom I fear,’ i.e. ‘my enemies,’…” (Meek, 1956, p. VI 22)Footnotes
“The day of God’s wrath is like a victory banquet, but Israel is the slaughtered food (Isa 34). There is no prayer against enemies here (as in 1:21-22; 3:60-66; 4:21-22), for Yahweh is the enemy (v 5).” (Guinan, 1990, p. 561)
SPLENDOR 'SPLENDOR' is a 8 letter word starting with S and ending with R Synonyms, crossword answers and other related words for SPLENDOR We hope that the following list of synonyms for the word Splendor will help you to finish your crossword today. We've arranged the synonyms in length order so that they are easier to find. 4 letter words C2 [ U ] great beauty that attracts admiration and attention: They bought a decaying 16th-century manor house and restored it to its original splendour. splendours [ plural ] (US splendors) the beautiful features or qualities of a place, etc.: the splendours of Venice. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. The Synonym of - splendor (noun) pomp majesty richness brilliance magnificence grandeur luster ceremony resplendence effulgence pageant sumptuousness brightness dazzle solemnity renown spectacle show display gorgeousness stateliness refulgence brilliant or gorgeous appearance, coloring, etc.; magnificence: the splendor of the palace. an instance or display of imposing pomp or grandeur: the splendor of the coronation. grandeur; glory; brilliant distinction: the splendor of ancient Greek architecture. great brightness; brilliant light or luster. Another word for splendor. Find more ways to say splendor, along with related words, antonyms and example phrases at Thesaurus.com, the world's most trusted free thesaurus. Splendor: impressiveness of beauty on a large scale. Synonyms: augustness, brilliance, gloriousness… Antonyms: blackness, dark, darkness… Find the right word. Definition of splendor. 1 a : great brightness or luster : brilliancy. b : magnificence, pomp. 2 : something splendid the splendors of the past. Other Words from splendor Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about splendor. Keep scrolling for more. Synonym of splendidness Synonym of splendiferous Synonym of splendiferously Synonym of splendiferousness Synonym of splendor Synonym of splendorous Synonym of splendrous Synonym of splenectomize Synonym of splenectomy Synonym of splenetic Synonym of splenetically Synonym of splenic +splendour sinonim The conspicuous exhibition of one's wealth, status or possessions. A composed or serious manner or style. An inessential, desirable item, typically expensive or difficult to obtain. The quality of being graceful and stylish in appearance or manner. Something attributive that is pleasing to the senses. Synonym: brightness, brilliance, glory, grandeur, magnificence, pomp, radiance, Noun of splendor magnificence glory grandeur brilliance finery impressiveness majesty splendidness luxury excellence radiance luster pomp richness brightness ceremony dazzle display effulgence pageant refulgence renown resplendence show solemnity spectacle
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Splendor Meaning - YouTube. Video shows what splendor means. Great light, luster or brilliance.. Magnificent appearance, display or grandeur.. Great fame or glory.. Splendor Meaning. Ho... Video ... #Hindimeaning #songsmeaningandmistakes Pleace subscribers and share like Song: SplendorSinger: Satbir AujlaLyrics: Satbir AujlaMusic: Sharry NexusLabel: Geet... Lesson 757 - Synonym English 110 words and meaning in Khmer ខ្មែរ Socheat ThinWelcome to Socheat Thin channelPlease SUBSCRIBE Want to listen & read Satbir Aujla latest punjabi song Splendor Song Lyrics Meaning in Hindi than this video is for you. In this video i explain each & every... Grotesque means comically or repulsively ugly distorted.It is an adjective.Synonym : BizzareAntonym : NormalI hope you got what you wanted ☺️. Do you Like, S... Bawdy; Bawdy, meaning, synonyms, antonyms; Bawdy meaning; Bawdy synonyms; Bawdy antonyms; Bawdy in English; Bawdy meaning in English. BattyBatty, meaning, synonyms, antonyms.Batty meaning in EnglishBatty meaningBatty synonymsBatty antonymsBatty synonyms and antonyms Hey, Do you know what Sarcastic means?🔥 If you don't know, learn in 30 sec here on daily vocab #shorts 🥳🥳Sarcastic (daily vocab) Meaning Synonym Anton... Synonyms and Antonyms in English with Tricks अब कभी नहीं भूल सकते English By Rani Mam [Hindi]English With Rani Mam for SSC CGL/CHSL/Bank PO-Clerk/UPSC/IB... Synonyms! List of 250+ Common Synonyms in English: https://7esl.com/synonyms/Synonyms Part II: https://youtu.be/AYa6cPwS9VEWhat is a Synonym?A synonym is a w...
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