Literary Discussions

Regarding ambiguity:

A professor once pointed out to me that the phrase "the love of God"
might mean a love which God feels or it might me the love which
people feel towards God and there is even a third possibility which is
rather difficult to explain, but a kind of disembodied love, like an
energy or force, in the sense of the verse "God IS love" (i.e. this sort of
love as an energy or force or field in it's own right, and perhaps as
distinguished from other sorts of love.

The above is an example of a phrase which is ambiguous. I suppose
there are words which are ambiguous, or perhaps we might say
multi-valent.

There are statements which are ambivalent. A very famous example
from antiquity is when a king inquired of the Delphic oracle regarding
a war which he was hoping to wage. The oracle answered, "If you go
to battle, a great nation will fall." The king foolishly assumed that the
great nation to fall would be his enemy's nation and not his own.

Ambiguity and multivalence and vagueness are energies if you will,
waiting to be harnessed towards some end. But you must have some
end or purpose in mind, obviously. It is not sufficient to simply
"sprinkle" one's writing with ambiguities as one might sprinkle an
ice-cream cone with chocolate.

Leo Strauss wrote "Persecution and the Art of Writing" to explore the
notion that a writer, for political or moral reasons, might write a work
which has an outer, explicit meaning for the commonfolk, but a
hidden inner esoteric meaning meant only for those equipped to
discern it.

In the Book of Proverbs, King Solomon says, "A word of wisdom, fitly
spoken, is like an apple of gold in fittings of silver." In those ancient
times, an artisan would fashion an apple of gold, and then create a
fine silver screen casing, with the tiniest of holes. From a distance, it
appears to be a silver apple. As one approaches closer and studies
more carefully, a glint of gold is seen from certain angles and one's
curiousity and suspicions are aroused. Finally, after careful study, one
realizes the true, hidden nature of the work, namely, that a golden
apple is concealed inside the silver casing.

One might consider the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, a poem written in
Persia in a society strictly governed by Islamic laws. If one were to
write an explicit treatise on philosophical or spiritual ideas which
conflict with Islam, then one might face persecution. If one can say,
"well, this is simply a poem" then perhaps more may be "gotten away
with" and certain teachings may escape the attention of the
government censors.

The ancient Greek word "kosmos" has a wonderful ambiguity, in that
it may mean "adornment" or it may mean "universe." We derive both
"cosmetic" and "cosmic" from "kosmos." The ancient Greek word for
"poetry" is from the word "poiesis," meaning "to create." The artist
assumes the role of God and creates a world which is ornamental.

But that world created has its own laws and seasons and physics, and
things are taking place in that world, changing, evolving, approaching
some final state or estate. The Greek word "teleiology" denotes some
end or final estate which involves purpose or intention or perfection,
e.g. the teleiology of an acorn is to become an oak tree. The Greek
word "eschatos" simply means "last" or perhaps "latest." If our entire
universe, through the third law of thermodynamics, winds down to
some lukewarm stew of randomness, and stops there, well that is its
eschatology, but there is no teleiology from our perspective, since
nothing was achieved or gained.

One finds a wonderful ambiguity in the New Testament in the Book of
Revelation. The last sentence of the 6th verse of the tenth chapter, in
Greek, reads "kai xronos ouketi estai" which is literally saying "that
there should be time no longer." The King James version give an
accurate translation. Many modern translations will render this verse,
"and there shall be no more DELAY." The King James translation (and
the original Greek) imply that TIME ITSELF SHALL CEASE, in the sense
that an Albert Einstein or a Steven Hawking might speak of the end of
a time-space continuum, or time at the speed of light, or time at the
first moment of the big bang. If we look earlier in the Book of
Revelation, at chapter 6, verse 14, we see, "And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it is rolled together." So there is actually some basis
for saying that some quantum-relativistic time-space phenomenon is
being described.

For those who prefer the translation "no more delay," then time and
space continue, and the new heaven and new earth and kingdom of
God are very much like business as usual, but perhaps minus various
undesirable things like sin, death, war.

A second marvellously ambiguous word in the Bible is "faith." The
word "faith" (or belief) is referenced only THREE times in the old
Testament, and its first appearance is in the NEGATIVE, in
Deuteronomy, Ch. 32, "Because of your FAITHLESSNESS, my anger
has been kindled like a fire, and like a fire it shall burn from the
highest mountain tops to the base of the mountains and down to the
lowest Sheol (Hell) and shall wither the fruitfulness of the earth." By
the way, this first mention of FAITH-lessness is also the first mention
of Hell (Sheol) and of Fire, but the fire is not causally related to the
hell.

The second occurance of "faith" is in Habbakuk, ch. 3 I think, the
famous verse which Martin Luther of the sixteenth century uses to
base his entire theology of "sola fides" (salvation by faith alone). It
reads in the King James translation, "For the just man shall live by HIS faith."

But the Greek Septuagint is very different, reading, "For the just shall
live by MY (God's) faith." Now in Hebrew, the word for faith means
"faithfulness to a binding agreement or testament" (i.e. one is true to
one's word.) This meaning of faith is VERY different from the Greek
word "pistis" which Paul uses in Hebrews ch. 11, verse 1, "Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

The Old Testament stresses the importance of obeying or abiding by
an agreement or promise. In Habbakuk, God is saying that the JUST
person who honestly fulfills the contractual agreement will LIVE (and
not be destroyed) precisely because of GOD'S faithfulness to His part
of the agreement. This is a legal quid-pro-quo, something in exchange
for or expectation of something else. In the New Testament, faith is
a hope or confidence that everything will be "alright" which INCLUDES
forgiveness for shortcomings in the observance of commandments or
contractual agreements. AND, furthermore, we see that the
Septuagint version of Habbakuk includes a verse which is absent from
the King James translation from the Masoretic texts, namely "BUT if
he turn back, THEN my heart shall take no delight in him" (i.e. if the
human being renigs on his part of the contractual agreement or
Testament, then God will likewise renig, and the agreement will be
null and void.)

So, we see that the ambiguity of one or two words can lead to two
entirely different worlds or ways of life.

But, for the writer, here is a problem. The average reader does not
care to immerse themselves in such complexity and speculation. I
see one woman every day who always has a popular paperback
romance in her hands. I once asked her if she had ever read "The
Painted Bird" by Jersy Kosinsky, and she let out a gaffaw and said,
"Oh, a million years ago I read such books."