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Levant:
In Spanish, lavante, sunrise point, east
Archaic, leven, light
Related to levitate, levy
Light arises from the sun in the east
Light bread, fermentation by yeast
Lever is an apparatus that lifts
Elevate, relevant
In Spanish, leudo, to ferment dough with yeast
In Latin, levare, lift, unburden, free rise
In Spanish again, levadura, yeast makes sourdough
Levanter, to rise, life
Elevator
Delight, livid, levity
In Ukrainian, lechko, light
In English, lung, airy tissue
In German, luft, air
In Latin, levis, light
Levianus, light
In Spanish, levantamiento, uprising, revolt
Sublevar, undermine
Alleviate, to lighten
Light draws meto the Levant
Light draws me to the Levant (among other factors)—the physical light
generated by the often-intense sunlight reflecting up from the limestone-covered
ground. And the metaphysical light of wisdom, learning, experience, the
light emitted by hundreds of teachers, sages, prophets, luminaries and
witnesses to the truth.
This physical light is unlike any light I’ve lived in. Residing in North
America where skylight is absorbed by the vegetation, I find the Levant
light to be compelling and intriguing. The sunlight is reflected back
and produces a glowing sensation. This is the fabled Mediterranean light.
I wonder if I’m the first to explain it this way.
The metaphysical or spiritual light is from another source entirely—the
wisdom traditions, the ancient teachings, and the discoveries of luminaries
dating back at least 4,000 years. What is doubly astonishing about this
metaphysical light is that so far it has proven insufficient for solving
the very human problems plaguing this region. With this tradition—Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, to name but three (and we could include Mohammed as well,
even tho he didn’t step directly on this land)— why are so many of the
most severe problems of conflict and violence centered in what has been
perhaps erroneously named the Holy Land?
The physical light
But first the physical light, how it affects me. I lived there from September
2004 thru January 2005, experiencing a shift of seasons from summer dry
to winter wet. And with that change, the sky shifted from mostly clear
and hot to partly and fully clouded and cool. Rain spattered the ground,
green returned, and with it—another oddity about this region—leaves fell
from trees. Spring and autumn conflated. The light changed from yellowish
to bluish, from direct with sharp shadows to softened with indistinct
or absent shadows. I wonder how my photos might reflect this change. (I
should put together a series, maybe one key photo from each week, numbering
some 20. A good project for later.)
The light was long, the light was bright, the light was little varying.
Around middle October the light shifted. It would wax and wane with the
clouds. It would change in color temperature, from very blue to just barely
blue. Shadows would appear and disappear. I thought of photos and paintings
I’d seen of uniformly white buildings in Greece, and found something similar
in the limestone facades of Palestinian buildings.
The metaphysical light
Now about the second form of light—from luminaries, key figures in the
history of the region. What is this light, how is it manifested, and how
show and use it?
Quakers use the term “inner light” to refer to the divine in the human,
Christ in the human, “that of God” in the human (to use that awkward but
beloved phrase) or as Buddhists might prefer to say, “the Buddha within
all beings.” There have been some bright lights in Levantine history.
Let’s examine a few.
Abraham, meaning father in Arabic, a friend of god, lending the name
Hebron,(in English) Hevron (in Hebrew), and Al-Kalil (in Arabic),meaning
friend, to where he lived most of his life. He lived approximately 4,000
years ago. Supposedly he fathered the Judaic tradition, the Muslim tradition,
and, thru the Judaic, the Christian tradition. Quite a feat for one person,
an old one at that (His wife Sarah was 90 when Isaac, the second son,
was born.). But he had the aid of two women, Sarah thru whom Jews and
Christians descend, and Hagar, from which issued the Islamic lineage.
To me all this is a bit murky and I’m not going to try to plumb the arguments
here. Suffice to claim: Abraham is one key luminary emitting the light
of wisdom. Also discord. It’s built in.
The original form of the name, Abram, is apparently the Assyrian Abu-ramu.
It is doubtful if the usual meaning attached to that word "lofty
father", is correct. The meaning given to Abraham in Genesis 17:5
is popular word play, and the real meaning is unknown. The Assyriologist,
Hommel suggests that in the Minnean dialect, the Hebrew letter Hê ("h")
is written for long a. Perhaps here we may have the real derivation
of the word, and Abraham may be only a dialectical form of Abram.
—http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01051a.htm
In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Abraham is described as a patriarch
blessed by God and promised great things, father of the People of Israel
through his son Isaac; the Qur'an further claims Ishmael as the father
of the Arabs. In Islam, Abraham is considered to be one of the most
important of the many prophets sent by God. In Christian belief, Abraham
is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God by offering up Isaac
is seen as a foreshadowing of God's offering of his son, Jesus.
His original name was Abram ("High/Exalted father/leader",
Standard Hebrew Avram); he was the foremost of the Biblical patriarchs.
Later in life he went by the name Abraham. There is no contemporary
mention of his life, and no source earlier than Genesis mentions him,
so it is difficult to know if he was a historical figure. If he was,
he probably lived between 2166 BC and 1991 BC.
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham
Abraham’s light is primarily monotheism, the idea that god is one. He
also taught, by example, faith. When god required him to kill his son,
Isaac, Abraham was ready to comply. A goat wandered by and god allowed
it to be substituted for the son.
Secondly, Joseph, son of Jacob, who interpreted dreams and entered as
a slave into the sphere of Egyptian leadership. He later saved his father
and brothers after suffering at their hands, and turns out to be an inspiring
figure. He is known, among other reasons, for his coat of many colors,
itself a light-bound concept. But his primary contribution to the wisdom
light, as I read the story, is his impeccable character, also his multiple
talents, dream interpretation probably the most important. (When did he
live, if he lived? The blood line goes like this: Abraham begat Isaac
who begat Jacob the father of Joseph, making Abraham Joseph’s great great
grandpa.)
According to Genesis, Joseph was the elder of the two sons of Jacob
by Rachel (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of his birth, said,
"The Lord shall add [Heb. yoseph] to me another son" (Gen.
30:24). This was the reputed origin of his name. He was born in Padan-Aram
when Jacob was about ninety years old. He was probably six years old
when his father returned from Haran to Canaan and took up his residence
in the town of Hebron. Joseph was a favorite son of his father's, who
made him a multi-colored coat, and was envied by his half-brothers.
They "hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him."
Their anger was increased when he told them his two dreams (Gen. 37:11)
which hinted they would submit themselves to him.
Jacob was probably born at Lahai-roi, twenty years after Isaac and
Rebekah were married, at which time his father was sixty (Gen. 25:26),
and Abraham one hundred and sixty years old.
According to the Bible, when Isaac was 136 years of age (60 at Jacob's
birth + Jacob's age of 76 = 136), Rebekah learned that Isaac was about
to give his blessing to the "wrong" son, Esau. (Genesis 27).
She thought Isaac's choice for both the birthright blessing of material
inheritance (property), and the Abrahamic blessing of the land and a
seed (bloodline, leadership), should bless "all the families of
the earth."
The birthright secured to him who possessed it:
superior rank in his family (Gen. 49:3);
a double portion of the paternal inheritance (Deut. 21:17);
the priestly office in the family (Num. 8:17–19);
The Abrahamic blessing secured to him who possessed it:
the promise of the seed in which all nations of the earth were to
be blessed (Gen. 22:18).
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob
I should look into the women of scripture—Sarah, Hagar, Esther, Rachel,
Naomi, and many others—to learn what light they showered on the ages.
Hagar (Arabic Hajar; Hebrew "Stranger", Standard Hebrew
Hagar,) is an Egyptian-born servant of Sarah, wife of Abraham in the
Book of Genesis and in the Torah.
Hagar is the Egyptian slave of Abraham and Sarah, mentioned in Genesis
16. As was the custom, the childless Sarah offered Hagar to her husband
Abraham to provide him with an heir. The son born from this union was
Ishmael.
The text avoids praise of these actions, and traditional readings
often hold that this ignored God's promise to provide Abraham with an
heir through Sarah herself. When this promise was fulfilled in the birth
of Isaac, Ishmael's behavior was deemed unacceptable, and so Hagar and
Ishmael were expelled from the camp of Abraham. This continues a theme
of younger sons supplanting older ones that is found through out Torah.
Ishmael is held by tradition to be the father of the Arab people,
and an ancestor of Muhammad.
Contemporary readings often discuss the tension between women that
is induced by linking women's status to the male heirs they produce.
Hagar is often used as example of the silently victimized, since her
only recorded statement is a plea for death. Later Liberation and Womanist
traditions find identity with Hagar for these reasons.
W. C. Handy's song "Aunt Hagar's Blues" immortalizes Hagar
as the "mother" of the African Americans:
Just hear Aunt Hagar's children harmonizin' to that old mournful tune!
It's like choir from on high broke loose!
If the devil brought it, the good Lord sent it right down to me,
Let the congregation join while I sing those lovin' Aunt Hagar's Blues!
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham
Sarah (the name means princess, her new name after Sarai, given by god,
meaning my princess) is known primarily for her beauty and how attractive
she was to the pharaoh. But in rabbinic literature she is also known for
her gifts of prophesy, a prime reason for Abraham’s respect and devotion
to her. Secondarily, she had humor, laughing inwardly when told she would
bear a child at her age of 90.
Moses is a sad character, getting as far as Mt. Nebo on the east side
of the River Jordan, then dying because god held a grudge. This is dated
to about 600 years after Abraham, or around 1,400 years BCE. Moses was
some 140 years old. Here’s the story and why he is a light.
Invited by god to lead his people out of the oppressive Egypt, Moses
first replied, but god I’m not the one for this job. God prevailed. Moses
accepted the challenge. Lesson number one: listen to the call, even when
it is not what you prefer hearing. In the words of the gospel of John,
when you are old you will reach out your arms, someone will strengthen
you and carry you where you do not wish to go.
Not an easy task, going thru the desert, with competitive leadership
(mainly in the form of his brother Aaron) and a frequently resistant and
angry following. But they made it by some mysterious and circuitous route
to within vision of the Promised Land, the hills of Jerusalem. There,
looking out on the summit of Mt Nebo, Moses died. Why was this?
According to scripture, he had committed an infraction earlier and was
now being punished. Big lesson: obey exactly. (What was this infraction?)
Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of
Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. Yahweh showed him all the land
of Gilead, to Dan,…
Jumping ahead (and over the prophets which I should return to) some
2 millennia we come to Jesus himself, for me a primary light source. As
I read his life, he taught nonviolence, upsetting the old rule of eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, to proclaim the urgency of loving one’s enemy,
not only one’s kin or neighbor. Like the Jewish teaching (he was a Jew),
he highlighted the importance of doing to others what is desired to be
done to oneself. This is a light that goes back into the deepest annals
of history. An ever shining light that no one person can claim as one’s
own.
Jesus also taught comradeship with the poor, the forgotten, the despised,
and in his life he exemplified this. He befriended the tax collector,
the Roman officer, the prostitute, those with leprosy, the weak, and the
blind. His Sermon on the Mount was a very bright light of wisdom. Amazing
how his light can be so freely and radically distorted by groups such
as the Christian Right, and their herald GW Bush. George received the
light directly from god who tells him apparently to invade and occupy
Iraq, under the guise of searching for weapons of mass destruction and
holding Saddam Hussein accountable for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Perhaps god’s light failed here or at least faltered.
The Beatitudes in Matthew.5:1-12:
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.
His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount
Similarly, but with a key difference, from the Islamic tradition, Mohammed
taught lessons parallel to those of the religious streams integral to
Islam, Judaism and Christianity. He might not have physically stepped
foot in the Levant, but he is claimed to have lifted off from Jerusalem’s
Dome of the Rock in a dream, ascending to heaven (whether his final ascent
or a mere visit is not clear to me).
The Isra and Mi'raj refer to two parts of a journey Muhammad took
in one night. Isra is an Arabic word referring to what Muslims regard
as Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem - specifically,
to the site of Masjid al-Aqsa - alluded to in Surat Al-Isra: Glory to
(Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred
Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless
It is believed to have been followed by the Mi’raj, his ascension
to heaven. It is considered to have happened just over a year before
the Hijra, on the 27th of Rajab; the date is celebrated as a holiday
in some parts of the Muslim world.
The siras go into great detail about this; however, a summary version
might run:
As he was resting in the Kaaba, Gabriel came to him, and brought him
the winged steed Buraq, who carried him to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,
where he alighted, tethered Buraq, and led other prophets in prayer.
He then got back on Buraq, and was taken to the heavens, where he toured
heaven and hell (described in some detail), and spoke with the earlier
prophets, and with Allah. Allah told him to enjoin the Muslims to pray
fifty times a day; however, Moses told Muhammad that they would never
do it, and urged Muhammad to go back several times and ask for a reduction,
until finally it was reduced to five times a day.
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
So far we have the following luminaries briefly sketched: Abraham, Hagar,
Sarah, Joseph, Moses Jesus, and Mohammed. Perhaps this is sufficient to
demonstrate the richness of the region.
What are the primary lessons taught by these wisdom teachers, and how
might they apply to the conflicts in the region?
Treat others as you wish others to treat you. This is core to Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. Yet we see neighborly relations exhibiting often
the opposite traits: oppression, discrimination, violence, and destruction.
A few examples of the univerality of this core teaching of the light:
~1970-1640 BCE "Do for one who may do for you, / That you may
cause him thus to do." - The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant 109-110,
Ancient Egypt, tr. R.B. Parkinson.
~700 BCE "That nature only is good when it shall not do unto
another whatever is not good for its own self." - Dadistan-i-Dinik
94:5, Zoroastrianism.
? BCE "Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others."
- Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29, Zoroastrianism.
~550 BCE "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against
your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD."
- Tanakh, new JPS translation, Leviticus 19:18, Judaism.
~500 BCE "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find
hurtful." - Udana-Varga 5:18, Buddhism.~500 BCE "The Sage...makes
the self of the people his self." Tao Te Ching Ch 49, tr. Ch'u
Ta-Kao, Unwin Paperbacks, 1976. Daoism
~500 BCE "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to
others." Analects of Confucius 15:24, Confucianism, tr. James Legge.[1]
~500 BCE "Therefore, neither does he cause violence to others
nor does he make others do so." - Acarangasutra 5.101-2, Jainism.
~400 BCE "Do not do to others what would anger you if done to
you byothers." - Socrates.
~200 BCE "What you hate, do not do to anyone." - Deuterocanonical
Bible, NRSV, Tobit 4:15, Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Christianity.
~150 BCE "This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which
would cause you pain if done to you." - Mahabharata 5:1517, Brahmanism
and Hinduism.
~100 CE "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This
is the law: all the rest is commentary." - Hillel; Talmud, Shabbat
31a, Judaism.~100 CE "Do to others as you would have them do to
you." - Bible, NIV, Gospel of Luke 6:31, Christianity
~7th century "O ye who believe! Give of the good things which
ye have earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced
for you, and do not even aim at getting anything which is bad, in order
that out of it ye may give away something, when ye yourselves would
not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that God is Free of
all wants, and Worthy of all praise"- Q'uran.
~800 CE "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his
brother (fellow Muslim) that which he desires for himself." - Hadith
recorded by al-Bukhari, Islam.
? CE "And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou
for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself." - Epistle
to the Son of the Wolf, 30, Bahá'í Faith.
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity
For those accepting the notion of god, it is all the same god—one god,
monotheism. Moses taught one god; Jesus and Mohammed did as well. Yet
if we examine the various scriptures with their various interpretations
we find some claim one god is above another god, superior to it. As when
the Christian crusaders fought their way to Jerusalem and threw out the
disbelievers, the Muslims, or when Muslims destroyed so called infidels,
unbelievers, who might easily have been Jews or Christians.
Those not living up to a high moral standard will lose their position.
The Israelites lost the kingdom when they began worshipping golden calves,
i.e., other gods. Jesus rebelled against the then common practice of mixing
commerce with worship in the temple.
One might apply this to today: Worshipping mammon, i.e., material possessions,
and weapons of war, like nukes, is foolish and self-destructive. Woe to
those with ears who do not hear and with eyes who do not see. Yeah to
those who heed prophetic voices and turn from erroneous ways.
Thus, the light. The light physical based in the potentially Holy Land
which can lead the way. And the light metaphysical , capable of leading
us as a people out of the desert of insanity into the land of peace and
justice, milk and honey.
(to be continued, or at least concluded better) |