Translation

3 April 2023

Translation

I have spent many years of my life writing poetry in forms that have their origin in Japan.  This includes renga, tanka, and haiku.  I have read a lot of translations of Japanese poetry into English.  From this engagement with these translations, I have learned how the transmission from one cultural context to another changes and shapes that which is transmitted.  How something changes can vary.  For example, some translators of Japanese poetry into English replicate the syllabic count of the original Japanese because these translators think of the syllable count as foundational to the Japanese form.  Other translators forego the syllable count, opting for a free verse style of translation on the ground that this allows for greater lexical fidelity. 

I can think of Platonism today as being transmitted, or, by analogy, ‘translated’ into a number of different cultural contexts.  And, similar to the way translators of Japanese poetry have to make decisions about what to bring over into an English language version, the movement of Platonism into these different contexts shapes and reconfigures how Platonism is presented.  Here are a few thoughts about this:

1.  My feeling is that at the close of the Classical Age, Platonism was pushed into an historical situation that required Platonism to be ‘translated’ into some kind of new cultural context; almost as if Japanese poetry was forced to undergo translation into English or disappear altogether.  This was the situation for Platonism because the ancient institutions of the Classical world were disappearing as the rise of Christianity displaced them.  (For an excellent overview of this process I recommend The Final Pagan Generation by Edward J. Watts.)  A lot of classical culture, including books, statues, temples, economic structures, and communal relations, would not make it through this period of change either because people had lost interest in them or because they were actively destroyed.  Platonism also felt the pressure of this cultural shift; Platonic institutions of learning were closed, for example, which threatened the means whereby Platonism was taught to future generations.

2.  But Platonism did make it into this new culture and new world. The main route for the transmission of Platonism into this new cultural context was Christianity.  In Christianity, Platonism had strong advocates for its inclusion in Christian culture such as Saint Augustine.  But in significant ways Christianity and Platonism differed on important issues.  For example, in Christianity the ultimate is a personal savior, Jesus Christ.  In Platonism the ultimate is not a person; I mean that the One is beyond name and form, beyond all affirmation, negation, and predication.  This is a significant difference.  In addition, Christianity understood the cosmos as created at a certain point in time, whereas Platonism thinks of the cosmos as everlasting, without being created at a specific point in time.  But there were aspects of Platonism that Christianity saw as attractive such as the overall structure of emanation and the idea of transcending the material universe as a spiritual goal, and the view that the contemplative life was the highest way of life for a human being.  Finally, Christianity seemed to find the ascetic orientation and practices of Platonism as something that could be incorporated into the Christian tradition through an emergent monasticism.

3.  Christianity, like a translator, emphasized those aspects of Platonism that it found congenial to its view and theology, while at the same time interpreting those aspects of Platonism that clashed with Christianity as misguided but well-meaning.  The result was Christian Platonism which served as a vehicle for transmitting such writings as the Dialogues of Plato and the Enneads of Plotinus into the future.

4.  For those of us today who are non-Christian Platonists we face the situation of having inherited a many centuries long tradition that interprets Platonism in a particular way, a way that is supportive of Christianity, but may occlude other aspects of Platonism that might nourish our own spiritual journey.  Continuing with my translation analogy, it is as if we had only read free verse translations of Japanese poetry and had no idea that Japanese poetry is written, by Japanese, using standard formal structures.  Discovering these formal structures opens up new areas of meaning and understanding.  In a similar way, accessing aspects of Platonism that have been occluded for centuries opens up new areas of meaning, practice, and understanding.  For example, that the One is impersonal means having a different relationship with the ultimate than what is presented in Christianity.  Another example is that Platonic ethics is rooted in the Classical Virtues rather than biblically based commandments.  Another example is the view of rebirth that is central for Platonism.  And there are many other examples.

5.  I am not saying that Christian Platonism is wrong; I am saying that it is an interpretation. 

6.  I think for myself, my long journey through Buddhism prepared me for understanding Platonism on its own terms.  I’m not claiming special insight.  I mean that the time spent studying Buddhism allowed me to see my own culture’s presuppositions clearly and that this has carried over into my study and practice of Platonism.

7.  The situation we are in vis a vis Platonism at this time can be confusing.  There are many interpretations of Platonism circulating in the world today.  But I tend to see this as a creative confusion; meaning that I think we, meaning us Platonists, are wrestling with the Platonic heritage, engaging with the primary texts and commentaries, and finding our way through this process back to the One. 

8.  In some ways the cultural and civilizational disruption our culture is experiencing today resembles what was happening at the end of the Roman Empire; many historians have commented on this.  Everything at a social level appears insecure and fragile.  But Empires rise and fall, all of them, and Platonism managed to find a path through previous tumults.  I think this is because Platonism is rooted in eternity, nourished by eternity, rather than by earthly kingdoms.  Because of this Platonism will, I think, continue to guide people, even in these very dark times, to the Good and the One.