
Left: Andy Calitz (photo: provided); right: book cover of Life beyond the gods by Andy Calitz
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Language enables complex thought and symbolic reasoning, fosters social cohesion and large-scale collaboration, and communicates effectively to share information, intentions and strategies.
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Die Afrikaanse woord vir die denkbeeldige “verbode vrug” is appel. In 50 ander tale met naastenby dieselfde aantal of meer sprekers as Afrikaans is dit 苹果 (Mandaryns), manzana (Spaans), apple (Engels), تفاحة (Arabies), सेब (Hindi), আপেল (Bengaals), maçã (Portugees), яблоко (Russies), りんご (Japannees), سیب (Wes-Pandjabi), apel (Javaans), elma (Turks), 사과 (Koreaans), pomme (Frans), Apfel (Duits), ఆపిల్ (Teloegoe), सफरचंद (Marathi), سیب (Oerdoe), táo (Viëtnamees), ஆப்பிள் (Tamil), mela (Italiaans), سیب (Persies), epal (Maleisies), แอปเปิ้ล (Thai), સફરજન (Goedjarati), ಸೇಬು (Kannada), jabłko (Pools), яблуко (Oekraïens), tufaha (Swahili), apel (Soedannees), măr (Roemeens), tuffa (Hausa), appel (Nederlands), ፖም (Amharies), apula (Joruba), pomi (Fula), јабука (Serwies), i-apula (Xhosa), i-apula (Zoeloe), apole (Tswana), apula (Noord-Sotho), apuro (Sjona), алма (Kirgizies), себ (Tadjiks), alma (Turkmeens), olma (Oesbeeks), alma (Azerbeidjans), תפוח (Hebreeus).
This demonstrates the incredible linguistic diversity around the name of a single physical object of which most speakers have at least a familiar physical image in their heads.
Language enables complex thought and symbolic reasoning, fosters social cohesion and large-scale collaboration, and communicates effectively to share information, intentions and strategies.
Reading the recent LitNet contributions on Die slegte nuus van die Evangelie, God. Is daar ‘n ander antwoord? and Die Bybel, die Christelike godsdiens, en die waarheid, the complex overlay of disciplinary lexicons over language struck me.
During my years of travelling to 94 countries, researching, and writing to publish my recent book, Life beyond the gods, I became very aware of the lexicons of human thought and communication used in asking and answering the existential questions. Here are some examples of such lexicons (all deliberately only in English) mainly used to understand and communicate non-physical concepts.
Coming to grips with Christianity requires an in-depth understanding of its lexicon of advent, apostles, atonement, baptism, Beatitudes, Bible, body of Christ, Christ, Christology, covenant, creed, crucifixion, disciple, doctrine, Easter, Eucharist, evangelism, faith, fellowship, forgiveness, Gospel, grace, heaven, Holy Spirit, incarnation, justification, Kingdom of God, liturgy, Messiah, ministry, miracle, nativity, parable, Passion of Christ, Pentecost, prayer, prophecy, redemption, repentance, resurrection, revelation, righteousness, sacrament, salvation, sanctification, scripture, sin, Trinity, worship, Zion.
Comprehending theoretical mathematics in search of cosmic and atomic answers requires mastering quantum mechanics, wave function, eigenvalue, eigenvector, Hilbert space, Schrödinger equation, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, matrix mechanics, tensor analysis, quantum field theory, Lagrangian mechanics, Hamiltonian mechanics, differential equations, Fourier transform, Laplace transform, Green's function, boundary conditions, partial differential equations, group theory, symmetry operations, gauge invariance, space-time curvature, general relativity, special relativity, Minkowski space, Riemannian geometry, metric tensor, geodesics, Einstein field equations, cosmological constant, Big Bang theory, black hole, singularity, gravitational lensing, quantum entanglement, Feynman diagrams, path integral, Planck constant, Hubble constant, dark energy, dark matter, cosmic microwave background, redshift, Doppler effect, probability density, normalisation, complex numbers, probability amplitudes, spinor and spherical harmonics.
Accessing the metaphysics of Aristotle, Kant and Descartes requires delving into actuality, aesthetics, being, cause (causality), change, consciousness, contingency, cosmology, determinism, dualism, empiricism, eternalism, essence, existence, finitude, free will, ground of being, hylomorphism, idealism, identity, immaterial, indeterminism, infinity, materialism, metaphysical necessity, mind-body problem, monism, ontological argument, ontology, Parmenides, phenomenon, possibility, potentiality, the principle of sufficient reason, qualia, reality, relational ontology, self, soul, space and time, substance, subjectivity, teleology, the absolute, the infinite regress, the one, the problem of evil, theism, universals and particulars, worldview.
Understanding Islam necessitates understanding Adhan (call to prayer), Akhirah (afterlife), Aqidah (creed), Allah, angels (mala'ika), Ashura, Ayah (verse), Barakah (blessing), Caliph (khalifah), Da’wah (invitation to Islam), Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), Dua (supplication), Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Fajr (dawn prayer), Fard (obligatory duty), Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Five Pillars of Islam, Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Halal (permissible), Haram (forbidden), Hijab (modesty), Hijrah (migration), Imam, Iman (faith), Islam, Jannah (paradise), Jihad (struggle), Kaaba (sacred house), Khadijah (wife of Prophet Muhammad), Khutbah (sermon), Mahdi, Mecca, Medina, mosque (masjid), muezzin (caller to prayer), Muhammad (Prophet), Qibla (direction of prayer), Quran (holy book), Ramadan, Rasul (messenger), Salat (prayer), Sawm (fasting), Shahada (declaration of faith), Sharia (Islamic law), Shirk (polytheism), Sunnah (traditions of Prophet Muhammad), Tawhid (oneness of God), Ummah (community of believers), Zakat (charity).
Penetrating Hinduism of today’s India – the most populous country – takes the thinker to ahimsa (non-violence), arati (ritual worship), artha (material prosperity), ashrama (stages of life), atman (self or soul), avatar (incarnation of a deity), Bhagavad Gita, bhakti (devotion), Brahma (creator god), Brahman (ultimate reality), Brahmin (priestly caste), chakra (energy centres), dharma (duty, righteousness), dhyana (meditation), Diwali (festival of lights), Durga, Ganesh (remover of obstacles), Ganga (sacred river), guru (spiritual teacher), Hanuman, havan (sacred fire ritual), Holi (festival of colours), Indra (king of gods), jnana (knowledge), Kali, karma (action and consequence), Krishna, Kumbh Mela (sacred pilgrimage), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth), mantra (sacred chant), maya (illusion), moksha (liberation), namaste (respectful greeting), Om (sacred sound), Parvati, prana (life force), puja (worship), Ramayana, Ravana, samsara (cycle of rebirth), sannyasa (renunciation), Saraswati (goddess of knowledge), Shakti (divine feminine power), Shiva (destroyer god), Smriti (remembered texts), Sruti (heard texts), Upanishads, Vedas (sacred texts), Vishnu (preserver god), yoga (union, discipline).
Grasping the Buddhism of the inaccessible Himalayan region and Asia takes one to anatta (non-self), anicca (impermanence), arhat (enlightened being), Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva of compassion), bardo (intermediate state), bhikkhu (monk), bhikkhuni (nun), bodhicitta (awakened mind), bodhisattva (enlightenment being), Buddha (the Enlightened One), dependent origination (pratityasamutpada), Dharma (teachings of the Buddha), dukkha (suffering), Eightfold Path, enlightenment (nirvana), Five Precepts, Four Immeasurables (Brahmaviharas), Four Noble Truths, karma (action and consequence), lama (spiritual teacher), Jataka Tales (stories of Buddha’s past lives), Lotus Sutra, Madhyamaka (Middle Way philosophy), Mahayana (Great Vehicle), Maitreya (future Buddha), metta (lovingkindness), mantra (sacred chant), meditation (samadhi), mudra (symbolic hand gesture), nirvana (liberation), Pali Canon (Tripitaka), parinirvana (final nirvana), Rinpoche (precious one, ten perfections (paramitas), Tibetan teacher), samsara (rebirth), Sangha (community of practitioners), satori (moment of enlightenment), shunyata (emptiness), skandhas (five aggregates), stupa (sacred monument), tantra (esoteric practices), Theravada (Teaching of the Elders), Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha), Tripitaka (three baskets), upaya (skilful means), Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle), Vesak (Buddha Day), vipassana (insight meditation), Zen (meditative tradition), zazen (seated meditation).
Interpreting cosmic physics for its contribution to answering life’s questions takes the thinker to accretion disk, angular momentum, asteroid, Big Bang, black hole, brown dwarfs, celestial spheres, cosmic microwave background, cosmic ray, cosmological constant, dark energy, dark matter, Doppler effect, ecliptic, exoplanet, event horizon, galactic halo, galaxy, gamma-ray burst, gravitational lensing, gravitational wave, Hubble's law, Hubble constant, interstellar medium, light-year, magnetar, main sequence star, Milky Way, nebula, neutron star, observable universe, orbit, parsec, pulsar, quasar, redshift, relativity (general and special), singularity, solar flare, solar system, space-time, spectroscopy, star cluster, stellar evolution, supernova, telescope, time dilation, universe, wormhole, zodiacal light.
Fathoming archaic Judaism requires coming to terms with Abraham, Ark of the Covenant, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, bimah (platform in a synagogue), Brit (covenant), Brit Milah (circumcision), challah (bread), Chanukah (Hanukkah), chesed (lovingkindness), diaspora, Elul (month of reflection), Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), Exodus, Gemara (part of the Talmud), Haggadah (Passover text), Halakha (Jewish law), Hashem (the name of God), Holocaust (Shoah), Israel, Judah, Kabbalah (mysticism), Kaddish (prayer for the dead), Kashrut (dietary laws), Ketubah (marriage contract), kosher, lulav (palm branch), Maimonides (Rambam), matzah (unleavened bread), mezuzah (doorpost scroll).
Assimilating atomic physics requires mastering atom, electron, nucleus, proton, neutron, electron cloud, orbitals, energy levels, quantum state, photon, spectroscopy, electromagnetic radiation, ionisation, isotope, atomic mass, atomic number, periodic table, Pauli exclusion principle, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, wave-particle duality, quantum mechanics, Bohr model, Schrödinger equation, electron configuration, spin, quantum numbers, Coulomb force, nuclear binding energy, fission, fusion, radioactive decay, alpha particle, beta particle, gamma radiation, half-life, radioactive isotopes, atomic spectroscopy, fluorescence, absorption, emission spectra, atomic clock, laser, Rydberg constant, quantum entanglement, atomic transitions, hyperfine structure, Zeeman effect, Stark effect, atomic force microscopy.
Treading into the world of Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennet requires coming to grips with atheism, agnosticism, secularism, humanism, naturalism, scepticism, materialism, empiricism, rationalism, free thought, anti-theism, irreligion, godlessness, non-belief, secular ethics, existentialism, metaphysical naturalism, cosmology, evolution, logic, critical thinking, faithlessness, deconversion, secular humanism, secular morality, philosophy of religion, epistemology, worldview, Darwinism, Big Bang theory, burden of proof, Occam's razor, Pascal's wager, problem of evil, divine hiddenness, nihilism, scientism, existential angst, freethinker, unbeliever, secularisation, atheistic existentialism, theological noncognitivism, post-theism, anti-clericalism, deism (in contrast to atheism), pantheism (in contrast to atheism), religious scepticism, separation of church and state, superstitions, spirituality (non-religious), metaphysical scepticism.
Figuring out evolution requires a journey to natural selection, adaptation, mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, speciation, extinction, common ancestor, phylogeny, evolution theory, fossil record, genetic variation, genotype, phenotype, allele, fitness, survival of the fittest, evolutionary tree, Darwinism, Lamarckism, punctuated equilibrium, gradualism, macroevolution, microevolution, convergent evolution, divergent evolution, coevolution, artificial selection, selective pressure, evolution by natural selection, molecular clock, homologous structures, analogous structures, vestigial structures, embryology, biogeography, cladistics, radiometric dating, transitional fossils, DNA sequencing, gene pool, genetic bottleneck, founder effect, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, sexual selection, adaptive radiation, ecological niche, evolutionary arms race, hybrid vigour, human evolution.
Coming to terms with the existentialist philosophy of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Sartre requires diving into existence, essence, absurdity, freedom, authenticity, alienation, anguish, despair, dread, bad faith, facticity, transcendence, choice, responsibility, individuality, meaning, nihilism, nothingness, existential crisis, subjectivity, self, being, becoming, anxiety, freedom of will, existentialism, the other, intersubjectivity, death, finitude, existential freedom, commitment, Sartrean existentialism, Heideggerian ontology, Kierkegaardian faith, Nietzschean will to power, Camusian absurd, existential ethics, freedom and authenticity, absurd hero, existential angst, self-realisation, existential phenomenology, existential psychotherapy, lived experience, transcendental ego, existential temporality, radical freedom, contingency, existential engagement.
Reading the theistic or intelligent design thinkers like Collins or Behe necessitates immersion in intelligent design, creationism, designer, creator god, teleology, irreducible complexity, specified complexity, fine-tuning, anthropic principle, purpose, design argument, natural theology, cosmic order, first cause, prime mover, divine plan, omnipotence, omniscience, providence, Genesis, scriptural evidence, transcendence, immanence, ontological argument, cosmological argument, moral argument, existence of God, supernatural, miracle, deism, theism, divine intervention, creation ex nihilo, natural order, harmony, complexity in nature, lawgiver, sacred texts, revelation, divine will, causality, design inference, God of the gaps, biblical creationism, evolutionary design, argument from design, design detection, purposeful creation, divine craftsman, the watchmaker analogy.
Searching for the replacement of the soul in humanity’s new fascination with the hard problem of consciousness demands understanding of awareness, self-awareness, perception, attention, cognition, intentionality, qualia, sentience, the mind-body problem, dualism, monism, phenomenology, introspection, subconscious, unconscious, preconscious, neural correlates of consciousness, higher-order thought, subjective experience, mental states, consciousness states, wakefulness, sleep, dreams, altered states, meditation, mindfulness, flow state, self, ego, non-duality, agency, free will, embodiment, brainwaves, neuroplasticity, neurophysiology, emergent property, functionalism, materialism, panpsychism, physicalism, spiritual consciousness, collective unconscious, artificial consciousness, stream of consciousness, temporal consciousness, existential consciousness, binding problem, perception-action cycle, dynamic systems, and extended mind.
Interrogating the non-religious spirituality of Tolle, Watts and Peterson demands a focus on mindfulness, meditation, consciousness, transcendence, self-realisation, interconnectedness, oneness, presence, authenticity, flow state, higher self, inner peace, awakening, enlightenment, intuition, energy, vibration, alignment, purpose, ego dissolution, gratitude, compassion, empathy, resilience, self-awareness, inner journey, stillness, non-attachment, shadow work, self-actualisation, personal growth, life force, higher consciousness, sacred geometry, synchronicity, cosmic energy, universal laws, intention, manifestation, grounding, mindfulness practice, heart coherence, wholeness, spiritual awakening, expanded awareness, self-transcendence, soul, karma (non-theistic), universal connection, higher vibration, spiritual practice.
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How and when will we find the simplification and Google Understanding Translate to help overcome the language and lexicon barriers to human understanding of universal or global issues?
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These lexicons are developed in not only the 50 languages mentioned in my opening paragraph, but also in parallel in many of the 7 000 remaining other languages. How and when will we find the simplification and Google Understanding Translate to help overcome the language and lexicon barriers to human understanding of universal or global issues? I unreservedly advocate for public discourse on universal and global issues – such as existentialism, nuclear weapons and the environment – in a (single) international language, English. This also prevents the level of cultural and intellectual isolationism which I observe in the existentialist polemic around “god” in Afrikaans on LitNet.
Also read | Lees ook:
Skrywersonderhoud: Ben du Toit oor God: Is daar ’n ander antwoord?
Die Bybel, die Christelike godsdiens en die waarheid deur Sakkie Spangenberg: ’n resensie
Die slegte nuus van die evangelie deur Johan Retief: Sakkie Spangenberg deel sy indrukke