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Kate Schear

Beautiful! Thank you!

Tim Wright

…so…how does a Hebrew see this differently than a Greek?… 🙂

Michael

Greek view:

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs.

Hebrew view:

Pardes refers to (types of) approaches to biblical exegesis in rabbinic Judaism (or – simpler – interpretation of text in Torah study). The term, sometimes also spelled PaRDeS, is an acronym formed from the name initials of the following four approaches:

Peshat (פְּשָׁט) — “plain” (“simple”) or the direct meaning.

Remez (רֶמֶז) — “hints” or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.

Derash (דְּרַשׁ) — from Hebrew darash: “inquire” (“seek”) — the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.

Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in ‘bone’) — “secret” (“mystery”) or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.

As Shakespeare lets us know in the words of King Lear, whose daughter has just died

“Ripeness is all” (Hebrew)

The Greeks might also refer to the flower as a “reflection”

Of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, but I’m just guessing

Michael

Just some random thoughts, as my son would say (random is a favorite word of his)

When I look above and see the four levels of meaning, I see a spatial view of the world

But as we all know, time is of the essence, so we need another view to “see” in time

To understand that view I like to think in terms of the following three things (KISS)

Thesis > Antithesis > Synthesis —-> ad infinitum

For example:

Thesis = Hebrew = Judaism

Antithesis = Greek = Catholicism (God on a Cross)

Synthesis = Christian = Protestantism

Michael

BTW I was in Mexico at Xmas

Hopefully my alcoholic self died there

In any case, my AA self was born down there

Emily Durr

Beautiful!