Tell me about it

Now I know I should have said nothing. I have that wink that Doc Holliday suffered from that kicked off the whole OK Corral thing. I was having a really good Bible Study. We had a real expert talking about covenant, none of the standard stuff but exciting eisegesis. We go back to the text and then the Rabbi interiorizes and with the God-within introduces a radical meaningful life changing etc. It was beautiful. Plus the lecturer was hilarious. Very witty very funny, took the piss out of everyone. I thought it best to take cover and he was far more interesting than anything I was going to say. Apart from when he tried to teach us how to read the Bible. I could have done a better job but I resisted.

So the problem O R and you will understand concessitur so what I should have kept quiet, how did it help for me to speak. It was on vowel points. He demonstrated the folly of trying to pronounce tetragammaton with the vowel points of ADNI. First problem was very minor but he was straw dog shooting. We shouldn't say Yehowa he says only foolish charismatics say it that way, how would you like it if your name was mispronounced. Ok Ollie I know the others didn't have a clue it would have washed over them but for starters nobody says Yehowa that's how the germans pronounce Jehovah. He went with for time immemorial Xtians asserted the right of high priests yada yada so we must say Yahweh. I could tell you how the full and frank discussions went on, and although I had read a five page critique of the vowel points by the Sacred Congregation for the Liturgy co-approved by the CDF and one other Vatican Congregation of which he was aware and just said they must be forgiven, and I was with him, fuck the Vatican let's look at the arguments thanks to John the neoCat for that he too must bear his part in this shame. Unfortunately just because he has a doctorate in hebrew and I dropped out of hebrew in the first few weeks at Ushaw because it's too much work if you lust after result and I never got to learn the vowel points, I do happen to know a lot more about the whole tetragammaton thing because as you will know I am at heart an heretical gnostic qabalist which dubious credentials. And I give the impression with my 3 weeks of hebrew that I am a cutting edge Hebrew Scholar and he didn't call him out on that that day. Oh the interesting thing I hadn't noticed before call me stupid when I suggested so why do we call him Jesus don't that upset the lad. Is to get the name Yahweh saves you add a Shin to tetragammaton with the same vowel points so why don't we say it saysJehovah saves it doesn't read Yahweh saves.

Now I know the whole thing is scholarly convention, this is such a rabbinic argument it reminds us that we are still Jews. Take any ancient language on one level why insist on a particular pronunciation since no one knows how the ancients used to say the words we choose conventions Oxford and Cambridge have distinct conventions for Latin, as does the Church. So afterwards I thanked him for the lecture said he was inspiring on the text very prayerful but I thought he was showing off with the hebrew. At which he said I have a doctorate from Rome and I don't wish to discuss it further with you while pointing out that my fault was expecting certainty and absolute truth and believing I alone knew it. It is indeed a foible I have long sinced ceased trying to control but I certainly could make far more efforts hiding the times when I know I am right and the lecturer is utterly butterly wrong.

I later checked up the vowel point thing with wiki, which is far better than doing a doctorate and far quicker to look up than dusty manuscripts. I will add again he is wrong. Caflicks never pronounced the name till we were allowed to read the Bible sometime after the 1950s. The convention for Yahweh is attributed to a 19th century german (which I had correctly guessed during the lecture I was on a roll Ollie) and we only really do it to show our superiority to Jews and there are so many better ways we can do that now, and the problem with that protocol is it encourages the lecturer to show off his superiority the mouths of babes and sucklings and upstarts in the audience to show up the lecturer, we need a better model of salvation.

So I had a dream that Jenny one of the Lancastrians I loved showed me the shorts I had bought her (dream shorts I would never sir how very dare you suggest) but they had become very tight hot pants. Perhaps you have been washing them too often I suggested not wishing to imply she had filled out during her stay. I then said I had wondered if you were disappointed with them after I gave them to you because you didn't seem to want to shop much after. She replied but there really isn't that much variety here, and I imagined a small mall with four showrooms in it and thought oh ok.

So easy one I have got very bored here not enough stimulation and begun to think most of the lecturers are ignorant and stupid and in need of correction. Thank god they don't allow me to take many lectures. There are vague contingency plans afoot.

Oh and Jenny she was a one I had dismissed her early on in the 3 week course as a pizza and shopping gel then she started saying really thoughtful things. On the last day of the course I had one small chat with her and she told me that she had been heading for a 1st class degree but was studying 24-7 on anti-depressants and constantly in tears. It was only when her father drove her home one Xmas and she noticed his crying all the way home. Real Northernman go figure. She had a moment of grace not that agnostics call it that. And now she parties has fun and is cruising towards a 2:1. One I shall always love.

Well orf to Kottayam tomorrow evening all I have to do is stand at the right bus stop. Hmm. Worst case is I miss the bus. And I thought I'd ask Fr Jose if he could arrange for me to see Irom Chanu Sharmila. It's a prison visit technically and I think she has now been moved to Delhi where his family lives. If we don't ask we don't get. Trick is to keep it simple.

Dear Fr Jose, thank you for your offer of hospitality in Delhi. If it were possible for you to arrange for me to have a prison visit to see Irom Chanu Sharmila the Manipuri prisoner-of-conscience whom I understand is currently detained for force feeding at a hospital in New Delhi I should be very honoured to take up your offer of hospitality to enable me to make the visit.

And then I have to learn to not speak when lecturers say foolish things. It's good grace not to pull people up on little mistakes if they have a song to sing. Not that I would ever correct Irom's grammar once she started to explain her bounden duty. I shall try visualizing the Other always as an altera Irom.