2013-02-20

Emil Cioran | امیل چیوران | Эмиль Чоран

While men are haunted by the memory of paradise,
angels are tormented by longing for this world.

امیل چیوران، فیلسوف رومانیایی است که در ۱۹۱۱ متولد شد , و در ۱۹۹۵ درگذشت . آنچه که در نوشته او را ببینم یک ذهن روشن است که از طریق یک زبان شخصی شاعرانه و گاهی اوقات خنده دار و طنزیتصویر از جهان ما را توصیف که مانند تعداد کمی از ما، می توانیم دیدن بدون حجاب که چشم و ذهن ما را پوشش می دهد
My first serious encounter with Cioran's work was during high-school (lyceum). It all started with my sister giving me a couple of books by Romanian writers, among which was Cioran. These books stayed in the shelf for a couple of weeks before I began to read them, after that, everything changed.

Reading him was unlike anything else prior to that because I found in his books many of the same thoughts and feelings that made me prefer being alone and contemplating. Cioran's style is very personal, poetic and witty if compared with his contemporaries which makes it a much more organic reading experience, where thoughts and images flow like streams through valleys, cutting through mountains.

Ceea ce văd în scrierile sale este o minte limpede care printr-un limbaj personal, poetic și ocazional glumeț și ironic ne descrie o imagine a acestei lumi cum puțini dintre noi mai putem să o vedem, spulberând voalul ce ne acoperă ochii și mintea.
Pessimism is not what I see in his writing, I see a clear mind showing the hypocrisy in which we live, the lies we happily tell ourselves everyday in order to survive our routines and the simple truths that we often fail to perceive.

I started my series of "People" with Emil Cioran because he made me question the way in which I look at things, and in the same time gave me confidence when I needed it the most. What I admire in him is that he opened his heart, not only his mind and his questions regarding our existence and our struggle here have an origin deep inside himself, maybe in the soul.



Apocalypse
fragment from "On the Heights of Despair" (1934)
Persian version from http://www.outofharmony.com/

دلم می‌خواهد یک روز مردم را ببینم، پیر و جوان، خوشحال یا غمگین، زن و مرد، متأهل یا مجرد، جدی یا سبک‌سر، [روزی که مردم] خانه‌ها و کارهای‌شان را رها کنند، از وظایف و مسئولیت‌هایشان‌ چشم‌پوشند، در خیابان‌ها جمع شوند و دیگر از انجام هر کاری سر باز زنند. آن وقت بگذاریم اسیرانِ کارهای پوچ که زیر لوای وهمِ شومِ محض رضای بشیریت حضور داشته‌اند و برای نسل‌های بعدی رنج کشیده‌اند، انتقام خود را از میان‌مایگی پوچ و عقیم زندگی، و از زوائد عظیمی که هرگز جواز تغییر شکل معنوی را نداده‌‌اند، بگیرند. آن وقت، زمانی که تمامی ایمان و تسلیم از دست می‌رود، بگذاریم زرق و برق زندگی میان‌مایه یک بار و برای همیشه فروپاشد. بگذاریم آنهایی که بی‌صدا رنج می‌برند، و حتی به شکایت ناله‌ای نمی‌کنند، با تمام توان‌شان فریاد برکشند، غریوی ناآشنا و رعب‌انگیز و بدآهنگ برسازند تا خاک را برآشوبد. بگذاریم آب‌ها سریع‌تر جاری شوند و کوه‌ها هراس‌انگیزتر بجنبند، درختان ریشه‌های‌شان را همچون یک رسوایی ابدی و وقیح، عریان سازند، مرغان همچون کلاغان قار قار سردهند و جانوارن از ترس و خستگی متفرق شوند. بگذاریم آرمان‌ها بی‌اعتبار، باورها کم‌بهاء، هنر ناراست و فلسفه یک شوخی اعلام شود. بگذاریم همه‌چیزی در اوج و قهقرا باشد. بگذاریم کلوخ‌های خاک به هوا پرتاب شوند و در باد فروپاشند. بگذاریم گیاهان در آسمان، اسلیمی‌های غیرمتعارف و هراس‌انگیز و بد ترکیب برسازند. بگذاریم لهیب آتش به سرعت بپراکند و همهمه‌ای هراس‌انگیز همه چیز را دربر گیرد تا حتی کوچک‌ترین حیوان نیز دریابد که پایان نزدیک است. بگذاریم هر ترکیبی، بی‌شکل شود و آشوب، بنیاد جهان را در گردابی عظیم فرو بلعد. بگذاریم دهشت و تخریب و همهمه و هیاهویی مهیب باشد و بعد بگذاریم سکوتی ابدی و فراموشی مطلق باشد. و در این واپسین لحظه، بگذاریم تمامی بشریت که تاکنون امید، افسوس، عشق، یأس و کینه را احساس کرده ‌‌است، با چنین نیرویی که چیزی از پی‌اش باقی نمی‌ماند، ‌نابود شود. آیا چنین لحظه‌ای پیروزی فنا و واپسین عروج به نیستی نخواهد بود؟
How I would love one day to see all people, young and old, sad or happy, men and women, married or not, serious or superficial leave their homes and their work places, relinquish their duties and responsibilities, gather in the streets and refuse to do anything anymore. At that moment, let slaves to senseless work, who have been toiling for future generations under the dire delusion that they contribute to the good of humanity, avenge themselves on the mediocrity of a sterile and insignificant life, on the tremendous waste that never permitted spiritual transfiguration. At that moment, when all faith and resignation are lost, let the trappings of ordinary life burst once and for all. Let those who suffer silently, not even uttering a sigh of complaint, yell with all their might, making a strange, menacing, dissonant clamor that would shake the earth. Let the waters flow faster and the mountains sway threateningly, the trees show their roots like an eternal and hideous reproach, the birds croak like ravens, and the animals scatter in fright and fall from exhaustion. Let ideals be declared void; beliefs, trifles; art, a lie; and philosophy, a joke. Let everything be climax and anticlimax. Let lumps of earth leap into the air and crumble in the wind; let plants make strange arabesques, frightful and distorted shapes, in the sky Let wildfires spread rapidly and a terrifying noise drown out everything so that even the smallest animal would know that the end is near. Let all form become formless, and chaos swallow the structure of the world in a gigantic maelstrom. Let there be tremendous commotion and noise, terror, and explosion, and then let there be eternal silence and total forgetfulness. And in those final moments, let all that humanity has felt until now, hope, regret, love, despair, and hatred, explode with such force that nothing is left behind. Would not such moments be the triumph of nothingness and the final apotheosis of nonbeing



Marturisiri și Anateme 
fragmente 
- 1987 -

Omul nu este mulțumit că este om. Dar nu știe la ce
 să revină și nici cum să reintegreze o stare ce nu i-a lăsat vreo 
amintire distinctă. Nostalgia acelei stări constituie fondul 
ființei sale și este puntea dintre el și ceea ce, în el, 
rămâne din vârsta lui străveche.

Să devorezi biografie după biografie ca să te convingi și 
mai bine de zădărnicia oricărei făptuiri, a oricărui destin. 

Cea mai bună dovadă că individa este universală - faptul
 că ea răbufnește chiar și la nebuni în scurtele lor 
răstimpuri de luciditate. 

De fiecare dată când văd un vagabond beat, murdar, 
cu privirile rătăcite, împuțit, prăvălit cu sticla lui la
 marginea trotuarului, parcă-l văd pe omul de mâine 
încercând să-și atingă țelul și reușind.



The Trouble (disadvantage of) With Being Born
fragments 
click for more
- 1973 -

DURING the centuries, man tried his best to believe, he passed
 from dogma to dogma, from one delusion to another and reserved
 very little time for doubts, short respites between his periods of
 blindness. Properly speaking, those were not doubts, but
 interruptions, moments of rest, that followed the weariness
 of belief, of any belief.

YOU don't envy the ones that have the power to pray, while
 you are filled with malice against property owners, against 
those that know wealth and glory. It is strange that you live
 with the redemption of another, but not with the passing 
advantages that he can enjoy.

All my life, I have lived with the feeling that I have been kept
 from my true place. If the expression "metaphysical exile" had 
no meaning, my existence alone would afford it one.

As art sinks into paralysis, artists multiply. This anomaly ceases
to be one if we realize that art, on its way to exhaustion, has
 become both impossible and easy.

2013-01-16

Quran 001:002-007

Verses

2. [ro] Laudă lui Allah, al lumilor Stăpânitor
[en] All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe;
ستایش مخصوص خداوندی است که پروردگار جهانیان است.
[ru] Хвала Аллаху, Господу миров,
[ge] Lob sei Gott, dem Herrn der Welten,

3. Cel Milostiv, Îndurător,
the Beneficent, the Merciful;
(خداوندی که) بخشنده و بخشایشگر است
Милостивому, (и) Милосердному
Dem Erbarmer, dem Barmherzigen,

4. În Ziua de Apoi Stăpânul Cârmuitor,
Lord of the Day of Judgement.
(خداوندی که) مالک روز جزاست
(Единственному) Царю [Правителю] Дня Воздаяния!
Der Verfügungsgewalt besitzt über den Tag des Gerichtes!

5. Numai pe Tine Te adorăm, numai la Tine cerem ajutor,
You alone we worship, and to You alone we turn for help.
تنها تو را می‌پرستیم؛ و تنها از تو یاری می‌جوییم
Тебе мы служим  и  к Тебе обращаемся за помощью
Dir dienen wir, und Dich bitten wir um Hilfe.

6. Pe drumul drept Tu fii-ne Călăuzitor,
Guide us to the straight path:
ما را به راه راست هدایت کن
Веди (Ты) нас Прямым Путем,
Führe uns den geraden Weg,

7. [ro] Drumul celor cu care fost-ai Tu dăruitor, nu al celor pe care Tu Te-ai mâniat, nici al rătăciților.
[en] the path of those You have blessed; not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.
راه کسانی که آنان را مشمول نعمت خود ساختی؛ نه کسانی که بر آنان غضب کرده‌ای؛ و نه گمراهان.[fa]
[ru] Путем тех, которых Ты благом одарил, (а) не (путем) тех, которые под (Твоим) гневом, и не (путем) заблудших.
[ge] Den Weg derer, die Du begnadet hast, die nicht dem Zorn verfallen und nicht irregehen.

Words

- Laudă - Praise - ستایش - Хвала - Lob
- Lumi (pl.) - Worlds (plural of "world"; in this translation "world" is translated as "universe") - جهانیان (plural of "جهان") - миров (plural of "мир") - der Welten (plural of "die Welt")
- Stăpânul ("Stăpânitor" in the verse, "stăpân" is the dictionary form and can be interchengable with "domn", depending on the context) - Lord - پروردگار - Господу (Dative form of "Господ") - dem Herrn (obviously also in the Dative case)
- Ziua de Apoi - Day of Judgement - روز جزا - Дня Воздаяния - den Tag des Gerichtes!
- drumul drept - straight path - راه راست - Прямым Путем - den geraden Weg
- mânie - wrath - غضب - гневом ("гнев", dictionary form, masculine, has no plural) - dem Zorn ("der Zorn" dictionary form)
- rătăcit - (those who have gone) astray - گمراهان - заблудших ("заблу" is the dictionary form, "to lose one's way") - irregehen ("gehen" = to go ; "Irren" = to be wrong ; "irr" = lunatic, mad). 

Meanings

For this section I based my analasys mostly on the commentaries of Ali Unal, Turkish author, member of the Gülen movement. We can look at this Sura as having two parts (could also be considered three), it seems that God, through the prophet said “The half of al-Fātihah belongs to Me, while the other half to My servant”. The first part is composed of verses 1 to 4 and consists of praise to God, while verses 6 and 7 are the worhiper's prayer for guidance. The fifth verse belong both to God and to his servant.

There are a couple of key words and concepts here, including: the Worlds, the Day of Judgement, the Straight Path, the blessed, those who have incurred His wrath and those who are astray. As you can see, in the Wahiduddin Khan edition I have used, the word Universe takes the place of worlds. The reason I chose this translation is because it's easier to understand by most people, although it might diminish its meanings. I say this because, as Ali points out, the worlds mentioned in the Quran are not only limited to our physical universe. Borrowing from Sufi cosmology, he cassifies the levels as: Lahut (the High Empyreon, the region of pure light and fire, the highest heaven); Jabarut (another of the immaterial worlds where the Divine Realities which exist in the Lahut are manifested in their pure immaterial form); Malakut (the world of the pure inner dimension of existence) ; Mithal ("the world of the symbols or ideal, immaterial forms of things"); Shahadah ("the corporeal world, including the visible world and the firmaments"). 

The Day of Judgement can also be found in other religions like Christianity and Zoroastrianism although with greater or lesser differences. Ali Unal writes: "He (God) has included in the 'dough' of our existence certain elements that, however seemingly negative or destructive, will, when disciplined, cause us to rise to higher ranks of perfection."

The Straight Path "is the middle way, having nothing to do with any extremes", "in educating people, it disciplines and ennobles the intellect, saving it from the extremes of demagogy, cunning and stupidity, and so leads to sound knowledge and wisdom". The true importance, difficulty and beauty of this path can not, obviously, be summed up in a simple phrase, it's the first step in our development to reach our potential and taking it requires great responsibility and patience.

Grammar

To understand the meaning of a phrase we should know the cases. Romanian, Russian and German all share a number of four cases, English has only Genitive and Nominative (of what I know) while Persian basically has none.
The Nominative marks the subject of a verb, the Accusative indicates the direct object of a verb, the Dative indicates the indirect object and Genitive is a possessive case.

Reference

Quran versions:
Romanian: - George Grigore
                      - The 5-th edition published by the Islamic and Cultural League in Romania
English:  - Yusuf Ali
          - Sahih International
          - Reformist version
          - Wahiduddin Khan
Persian:  - مکارم سیرازی
                  - مجتبوی
Russian:  - Абу Адель
German:   - Abu Rida
          - Amir Zaidan
          - Adel Theodor Khoury

Links

A great German <> English dictionary