Language involves several different kinds of translation or carrying across:
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It's interesting to note that "translation" also means to convey a person to a non-temporal state (heaven, mystical ecstasy) without physical death.
Language involves several different kinds of translation or carrying across:
Correct translation of a meaning
Incorrect translation of a meaning
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Translating higher artistic phenomena from one realm to another requires preeminent discernment and consummate skill. In a previous essay on the essential aspects of creative rendering of transformative music, 1 we saw that an artist must not only possess complete mastery of her musical instrument, but must have attained an advanced discernment of the higher meaning which the composer embodied in the music.
In a similar vein, we earlier examined the five aspects of enlightened artistic creativity: 2
In studying transformative artistic expressions, such as Plato's philosophy, Rumi's poetry, or Chopin's piano etudes, we are constantly involved in a particular "translator's" rendering of the artistic artifact from his perspective and according to his skill. Between the actual art object (music, painting, drama, literature, poetry, etc.) and the recipient (reader, viewer, listener), the translator interposes himself. If the interpreter displays consummate skill and discernment, for example, the pianist Edward Kilenyi's rendition of Chopin's Twelve Etudes, then we receive a true interpretation. If, on the other hand, the translator lacks discernment and skill, we are left with a misinterpretation at least and a disfigurement at worst. The original artifact
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In some instances, we are able to get back to the original artifact and correct the misrepresentation, creating our own more veracious interpretation. But correcting misinterpretations requires that we have the requisite discernment and skill ourselves.
To understand all the ramifications of the problem of interpretation, we'll first examine the study of Plato's philosophy. In this instance, we're able to get back to the original Greek text and compare the various translations (interpretations) of the original writing: Thomas Taylor, Benjamin Jowett, A.E. Taylor, Francis M. Cornford, Paul Shorey, Hugh Tredennick, R. Hackforth, W. K. C. Guthrie, E.R. Dodds, Seth Benardete, and many others.
A creative interpreter must have a sense that there is a message or a range of meanings which he can discover in the original artifact and bring to others in a manner that will enhance their understanding and appreciation.
Thomas Taylor, the outstanding interpreter of Plato's thought, reflects this frame of mind:
"The mistakes I may have committed in lesser particulars, have arisen from my eagerness to seize and promulgate those great truths in the philosophy and theology of Plato, which though they have been concealed for ages in oblivion, have a subsistence coeval with the universe, and will again be restored, and flourish for very extended periods, through all the infinite revolutions of time."
Masterful translation requires discerning and skill.
"It is necessary to speak concerning the qualifications requisite in a legitimate student of the philosophy of Plato, previous to which I shall just notice the absurdity of supposing that a mere knowledge of the Greek tongue, however great that knowledge may be, is alone sufficient to the understanding the sublime doctrines of Plato; for a man might as well think that he can understand Archimedes without a knowledge of the elements of geometry, merely because he can read him in the original.""By a legitimate student, then, of the Platonic philosophy, I mean one who, both from nature and education, is properly qualified for such an arduous undertaking . . . who has never considered wisdom as a thing of trifling estimation and easy access, but as that which cannot be obtained without the most generous and severe endurance, and the intrinsic worth of which surpasses all corporeal good, far more than the ocean the fleeting bubble which floats on its surface. To such as are destitute of these requisites, who make the study of words their sole employment, and the pursuit of wisdom but at best a secondary thing, who expect to be wise by desultory application for an hour or two in a day . . . the sublimest truths must appear to be nothing more than jargon and reverie, the dreams of a distempered imagination, or the ebullitions of fanatical faith."
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Plato's philosophical writings are challenging, intricate, subtle works of art; every word contains a special significance. A "literal" translation is necessary--a translation that truly reflects the Greek words in their inter-relationships. This is why in some of my essays I have found it necessary to create a new translation of some of Plato's writings. Paraphrasing translations, such as those of Benjamin Jowett, for example, water down Plato, making him prosaic and unsurprising, missing much of the essence. A more discerning and skillful translator such as Thomas Taylor is able to transmit much more of Plato's meaning.
"Taylor himself translates Plato's Dialogues from within the ancient Greek Tradition. No English translator, before or since, has been so completely at one with the Greek philosophical and religious world view: Taylor fulfills, to the highest degree, the first requirement of the art of translation, - that of making the original writer's thought-patterns his own. Although Thomas Taylor lived in eighteenth and nineteenth century London, his spirit breathed the purer airs of an Athens of long ago, his soul worshipped in her temples, and his eyes beheld these things by the clearer light of her sun. To the student of the present day, he delivers the breadth and depth of Platonism remarkably free of the distortions which had darkened the millennium between the closure of the Academy in Athens and his own time."Secondly, Taylor adds to Plato's Dialogues, many of the surviving commentaries of the later Platonists (e.g. Olympiodorus, Damascius, Hermias, and especially, Proclus), as footnotes and endnotes. In this way, Taylor transforms the presentation of Plato's philosophy from that of mere faithful reproduction, as remarkable as that may be in itself, to one similar to that which students are likely to have received during the later period of Plato's Academy.
"'This Philosophy,' writes Taylor, 'May be compared to a luminous pyramid, terminating in Deity, and having for its basis the rational soul of man and its spontaneous unperverted conceptions....it is the greatest good in which man can participate: for it purifies us from the defilements of the passions and assimilates us to Divinity, it confers on us the proper felicity of our nature.'"
To examine this phenomenon of translating Plato's philosophy, we can take a specific passage from Plato's Ion, examining two very different translations of this passage:
Jowett's Translation
Thomas Taylor's Translation
"I perceive, Ion; and I will proceed to explain to you what I imagine to be the reason of this. The gift which you possess of speaking excellently about Homer is not an art, but, as I was just saying, an inspiration; there is a divinity moving you, like that contained in the stone which Euripides calls a magnet, but which is commonly known as the stone of Heraclea. This stone not only attracts iron rings, but also imparts to them a similar power of
attracting other rings; and sometimes you may see a number of pieces
of iron and rings suspended from one another so as to form quite a
long chain: and all of them derive their power of suspension from
the original stone. In like manner the Muse first of all inspires
men herself; and from these inspired persons a chain of other
persons is suspended, who take the inspiration. For all good poets, epic as well as lyric, compose their beautiful poems not as works of art, but because they are inspired and possessed. And as the Corybantian revellers when they dance are not in their minds, so the lyric poets are not in their right mind when they are composing their beautiful strains; but when falling under the power of music and metre they are inspired and possessed."
" I do consider, Io; and proceed to show you how it appears to me. That you are able to discourse well concerning Homer is not owing to any art of which you are master; nor do you explain or illustrate him, as I said before, upon the principles or from the rules of art; but from a divine power, acting upon you, and impelling you: a power resembling that which acts in the stone, called by Euripides the magnet, but known commonly by the name of the loadstone. For this stone does not only attract iron rings, but impart to those rings the power of doing that very thing which itself does, enabling them to attract other rings of iron. So that sometimes may be seen a very long series of iron rings, depending, as in a chain, one from another. But from that stone, at the head of them is derived the virtue which operates in them all. In the same manner, the Muse, inspiring, moves men herself through her divine inpulse. From these men, thus inspired, others, catching the sacred power, form a chain of divine enthusiasts. For the best epic poets, and all such as excel in the composing any kind of verses to be recited, frame not those their admirable poems from the rules of art; but possessed by the Muse, they write from divine inspiration. Nor is it otherwise with the best lyric poets, and all other fine writers of verses to be sung. For as the priests of Cybele performl not their dances while they have the free use of their intellect; so these melody poets pen those beautiful songs of theirs only when they are out of their sober minds." |
In the table above, we can see how these two very different interpretations relate to the original Greek text. In this separate graph, we see the distinct difference in three renderings of one of the most important passages in Plato's Phaedo: the discussion of philosophy as the practice of dying.
We can see--from both these graphs--how much more of Plato's meaning is transmitted through Taylor's rendering of these passage. If one were to read only Jowett's translation, most of the meaning would be lost. This occurs, in part, because Taylor approached philosophy as an entry-way into the Higher Mysteries. 3
We can get an even better sense of the role of the translator if we look at a passage in the New Testament with which most of us are familiar: the beginning of the Gospel of John.
The New Testament was written in koine (vernacular) Greek. These are the actual Greek words and their transliteral meanings:
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Now, let's examine three different renderings of this passage from John's Gospel:
The King James Version
J. B. Phillips Version
A New Rendering
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
At the beginning God expressed himself. That personal expression, that word, was with God, and was God, and he existed with God from the beginning. All creation took place through him, and none took place without him. In him appeared life and this life was the light of mankind. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.
In a beginningless moment in time, the One Reality revealed Himself. This revelation, embodied in sound and expressing meaning, was subsistent with, identical to, and coeval with the One Reality. All entities came into existence by the instrumentality of this embodied expression; and without this revelation of the One Reality not a single thing came into existence. All created entities have their being in this embodied expression and all earthborn creatures have their subsistence in it. This embodied expression has the property of giving light to mankind. This giving of light penetrates blindness and blindness does not overpower the giving of light by the One Reality. |
I've created this new rendering of the passage by a careful study and selection of the relevant meanings of each Greek word. John's concepts are so engorged with meanings, that a simple rendering is not true to his thought. The Greek word/concept "logos" (logos), for example, has such manifold meaning in its classical Greek setting, that translating it simply as "word" is a gross distortion. If one studies John's text carefully, word by word, and reflects on the range of meanings in Greek, I believe this new rendering contains more of John's meaning than other, simpler translations.
I use the phrase "Higher Artistic Phenomena" to include not only art objects but also the higher phenomena of human existence and being in general. The author of the Gospel of John and Perennialist teachers such as Plato affirm that human life in particular and being in general are the handiwork of the "One Reality," sometimes termed God or The Divine. To "translate" these artistic phenomena into modern terms of understanding requires a higher discernment made possible through entry into Higher Consciousness.
Such "interpretations" of the meanings of higher phenomena are esoteric in the strictest sense.
Esoteric teachings contain an advanced knowledge through which they affect (and effect) each recipient (reader, listener, viewer) relative to her level of spiritual attainment. For example, esoteric Perennialist material contains an internal screening mechanism, through which the recipient may be pruned relative to specific characteristics:
Shakespeare saw drama as a translation of the meaning of human life, revealing "the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."
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As we noted earlier, "translation" also means to convey a person to a non-temporal state (heaven, mystical ecstasy) without physical death. In his letter to Jewish Christians (titled Hebrews), Paul says: "It was because of his faith that Enoch (a descendant of Adam) was translated to the eternal world without experiencing death."
The King James Version (KJV) spells this out in more detail: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (11:5)
Paul taught that Christians experience "translation" into a Higher Realm: "Who did rescue us out of the authority of the darkness, and did translate us into the reign of the Son of His love" (Colossians 1:13)
A similar spiritual state is spoken of in Greek classical writings, in Hindu and Buddhist texts, and in the New Testament: transfiguration. The Greek word is metemorphothe: a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances; an exalting, glorifying, or spiritual change. Jesus is said to have been transfigured in the presence of some of his disciples.
In earlier discussions, we've seen that the formal religion that became known as the Holy Roman Church was and is nothing but a vast repository of false teachings and practices. At the present time, what is called Christianity, in all its Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant guises, is a horrible deformity of Jesus's original teachings.
Jesus's teachings say that man is capable of a second birth into the sovereignty of the higher realm (mistranslated "kingdom of heaven"). However, this re-birth or second birth belongs to the inner aspect of man, not to man as he seems to be in himself: a materialistic body living on earth.
Jesus and Paul taught that we must undergo a definite re-birth, a complete regeneration of our being from one state to another, the removing of the person from the earthly to the heavenly state without the intervening experience of physical death--translation and transfiguration.
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2 Chapter 9 in The Perennial Tradition: "Perennialist Artistic Creativity"
