XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: tanghuyen@gmail.com   
      
   On 11/20/2016 2:00 PM, {:-]))) wrote:   
      
   > Jews tend to be very aware of not speaking.   
   >   
   > There is a name that cannot be spoken.   
   >   
   > It is not so much that the Tetragrammaton is so sacred   
   > but that to speak of it already is to place it in a form   
   > of second-level thought.   
   >   
   > I would have thought you would have known that.   
   >   
   > But, then, what do I know of what you know   
   > might be similar to what Huizi knew when Zz knew *that*   
   > the fish were quite happy swimming near the Hao   
   > River Dam, darting about like ninja stars.   
   >   
   > [snip]   
   >   
   > Note: no disclaimers provided.   
      
   Of course I knew about that. There are bits of profound   
   wisdom in Jewish mythology, like in the always convenient   
   Ecclesiastes. The "I am that I am" (or some such,   
   translations vary) is often taken in French Catholic circles   
   to mean that the Jewish Yahweh did not want to let himself   
   be known. Those bits of utter wisdom are however often   
   ridden roughshod over, and are lucky even to be merely   
   ignored. Both traditional Judaism and Christianity scarcely   
   ponder such sayings, which are at best treated as outliers,   
   specially in learned exegesis.   
      
   The surprising thing is that such negation -- negative   
   theology -- comes back en masse in by way of overt pagans,   
   the Neoplatonists, specially the Neoplatonic founder,   
   Plotinus, and his direct disciple, Porphyry, both ardent   
   anti-Christian agitators, and their influence makes itself felt   
   in Augustine and the Greek Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa   
   notably. In fact, the Greek-based Eastern Orthodoxy is more   
   Neoplatonic than Christian. The hesuchia (peace) school of   
   meditation in the Eastern Christianity is essentially based   
   on Neoplatonic justification (the theory) and Indian Yoga   
   (the practice). Many major Saints of the Catholic Church,   
   like John of the Cross, are crypto-Neoplatonists who follow   
   negative theology whilst putting up a Christian facade to   
   protect the innocent.   
      
   As I keep saying, Bernard McGinn of Chicago says that it is   
   very hard to tell such Saints from the heretics condemned   
   by the Church, often burnt or drowned, or at least silenced   
   (like Molinos the Quietist). If you read both sides whilst not   
   knowing who the authors are, you will probably take them   
   to be soul brothers (or sisters) of the most intimate kind.   
      
   Note: no disclaimers provided.   
      
   Tang Huyen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)