Editorial notes: In October 2016, Shai opens his eighth blog, entitled “A Bashful Hope“ and sub-title “Dreaming of meaning”. Between October 2016 and December 2016 he posts 13 articles in this blog. This blog is clearly a work-in-progress and its menu structure suggests that Shai planned to incorporate articles across the vast areas of Kabbalah, Torah commentary and Zionism. I can only speculate...
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 03/11/2016. What follows is a very practical guide to building an ark. Or joining one if already built 🙂 Briefest guide Some metaphysical principles A medium guide A summary guide Briefest Guide Mundane version: With every...
Editorial notes: This essay can be categorised as the first in a series of 18 expositions comprising Shai’s Consolidation work. Shai commences his analysis by stipulating that the core ideas found in the “Indus Canon” – apparently referring to the wisdom of the East – provide a better philosophical reach than those found in the “ancient West” – referring, I believe, to ancient Greek philosophy...
What a beautiful world this is.
Its magnitude is refracted from before the waves of nothing into the spaces that grow faster than they could know.
Its power measures dew drops into infernos and beyond indefatigable momentum. Its terrible subtlety hinted in tendrils of air, the rustling of feathers, in the dreams of a man, echoed in every moment.
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 06/11/2014. Every commentator is an author whose concerns and responses allude to a hidden constellation. Thus a hidden dynamic – the back and forth of text-into-potential-engagement and specific-engagement – is...
The following have coalesced in my mind: The first module of the Mishna; the study of Mishna vs Torah; the temporal track-marks of Judaism. First I’ll introduce these, and then unpack them as a whole. First The first Mishna teaches the times for the recitation of Shema in the evening[I]. The Torah (i.e. as we have it) was created alongside and in parallel to the world, whereas the Mishna (i...
This is an allegory. It distorts a lot what it intends to allude. There was an article the other day about new documents uncovered in King’s College. The papers are by Newton and describe a dream he had. In this dream he discovered the key to the alchemist’s stone and used the stone to gaze back in time, to see who had built the stone hedges near his house. He saw primitive sapiens...
This is an expression of how I’ve been thinking about the first Mishna. It goes into more detail than my previous post. It does not propose to explain what the Mishna is about. Instead, I propose to explain what I have been thinking about. 1. From when are we to perform the Shema recital in the evening? 2. “From the hour that the Kohanim move to eat their Teruma; until the end of the...
Just for a few minutes. Not literally. The way things look is undeniable. The more we look, the more we see. And it’s still undeniable. But behind it all. Between shadows and flickers of distraction, is some other thing, a gossamer lighthouse, impossible and tall. I don’t know what other shapes it has; only the ones I’ve seen: It’s the desperate hope that the way something...
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 11/11/2016. These are my thoughts. It is my intention and hope that they not contradict what has already been established. In only a few places will I include methods. This is also an exercise in communication (i.e. in...
