The Tanah–Beginnings, Chapter Six

[The following is the seventh of many posts–here is the first, here is the second, here is the third, here is the fourth, here is the fifth, and here is the sixth–about a fictitious discovery of ancient manuscripts of a religious text of narratives and magic spells. Its purpose for my readers and me is to provide a cosmology and mythography on which I am basing much, if not most, of my fiction–short stories and novels. If anyone is interested in reading this fiction, he or she can use these blog posts as references to explain the nature of the magic and universe in my fiction.]

Medias, having devised the Ten Errors, was the first to comment on their meaning. These were his interpretations:

Mad Thinking is any kind of thinking that denies the fundamental unity of all things. By seeing only one side, we are blind to the other, and thus we sever things in half, denying unity. Seeing only one side of things leads to extremes, and extremes must be avoided. Mad thinking leads to, and is strengthened by, the next error.

Being dazed by images means being lulled or enticed by anything pleasing to the eyes, so much as that one ignores what is ugly or unpleasant and becomes attached to what is beautiful or pleasing. This, again, denies the middling unity of all things, divides everything into halves–pleasant and unpleasant–and fixating on the pleasant leads to hateful extremes. Impatience with the unpleasant leads to, and is strengthened by, the next error.

Scurrilous language is the use of words to be violent and hurtful to others. Communication’s unity ranges from this hateful extreme to its opposite–flattery. Moderate speech–praising and kind words when one deserves to hear them, and angry or critical ones when they are controlled–maintains unity. The scurrilous language of angry clients often leads to (as does that of angry employers) the next error.

All work and no rest is self-evidently extreme, denying the unity of all behaviour between this vice and its opposite, idleness. The need to work is a given reality; therefore, the need to avoid excessive work must be understood. The strain of too much work often leads to the next vice.

Family fighting denies the unity of proper family communication, whose unity ranges from this hateful extreme to its opposite, blind compliance. The differing individualism of people inevitably leads to family disagreements, but they must be settled in mutually satisfactory ways to maintain unity, and this precludes harsh words and contemptuous attitudes. Family fighting can build up a fury in some people that leads to the next error.

Murder denies the unity of all life, by trying to remove some of it. It is also self-evidently extreme. The contempt for life seen in murder can also arise in unhappy marriages, when contempt for one’s spouse leads to the next vice, which also sometimes causes murder.

Adultery denies the unity of the marriage bed, by climbing into someone else’s sheets. The other extreme, absolute immunity from temptation to adultery, is impossible in any husband or wife. The tendency to look at other men or women lewdly will happen, but touching them lewdly is a hateful extreme. This contempt for what belongs to others leads to, and is intensified by, the next vice.

Theft denies the unity that must be maintained between honestly making money and obtaining things with the use of it. Theft also comes from the addiction to pleasure caused by being dazed by images; furthermore, theft is self-evidently extreme. The dishonesty inherent in this vice leads to, and is strengthened by, the next error.

Lying denies the unity that must be maintained between having healthy relationships with others and obtaining what one wants by speaking truth. Lying often leads to, and is intensified by, the final error.

Greed is self-evidently extreme want, and it denies the unity between those who have much and those who have little. Being dazed by images often leads to this vice.

For many years, Medias and his family lived by these principles harmoniously. Another family settled in Nodos, and Medias’ youngest son, Puritos, befriended them. The young man was impressed with the virtue he saw in this family, who disagreed with the leniency they saw in Medias’ precepts. Puritos also started to disagree with Medias, thought their family tried to reason out the dispute amicably.

One day, Puritos went by Medias’ private hut, an erection much like a short tower in which the old man spent his hours of rest. Puritos could hear his father breathing heavily and belching in there. As Puritos listened, he remembered his mother complaining of how lonely she was in bed at night, since Medias often spent late nights in this small tower instead of lying beside her. Puritos also remembered the high moral standards of the father of the family who were their neighbours. Remembering Medias’ lenient ethics, Puritos began to suspect his father of lewdness.

Noticing that the door to the hut was locked, Puritos used all his strength to force it open. He saw his father naked and drunk. On a table inside was a bottle of wine, a goblet, and paintings of naked women. Puritos turned his head away in shock the second he unwittingly saw his father’s upraised phallus. The hut was already in a weakened condition, and the force with which Puritos opened the door caused the little tower to crumble to the ground, revealing Madias’ shame to his whole family.

Puritos’ brothers found a blanket with which to cover their father’s nakedness, and they put it on him carefully, not looking at his body. Medias hid the paintings from his family in time not to prove Puritos right in his accusations of his father. Therefore, the outrage of Puritos’ contempt for his father’s privacy was seen to outweigh the shame of Medias’ sin. Puritos was disowned by the family, but he was more than content to leave them, disgusted with his father’s lewdness and moral hypocrisy.

Puritos, his family, and the neighbours left Nodos forever (for the neighbours believed him), and they all journeyed further inland. They settled in the land of Spirus. There Puritos studied engineering and architecture in a local academy, and during this time he made amendments to the Ten Errors. He made their application much stricter, expanding the second Error to include being dazed by lewd pictures, and restricting the resting time of the fourth Error. The fifth Error would define family harmony as including loving, honest, and ethical parents, and meek, obedient children. The seventh Error would include gazing lasciviously at those other than one’s spouse as adultery; and the ninth Error would not excuse parents from lying to their children.

Puritos justified his changes by instructing his family and followers (for he was rapidly gaining fame as a philosopher in Spirus) that in our unified world, there is a Cycle of Decay, which at its extreme destroys all, replacing it with a new, fresh, pure beginning. If we are to survive, we must fight against this decay by being better than moderately good: hence his strict alterations of the Ten Errors.

Though his changes improved on Medias’ design somewhat, Puritos became too severe with them. He harshly punished his children whenever they were even slightly guilty of any of the Ten Errors; the Errors were also adopted as the supreme law of the land of Spirus, and criminals were similarly disciplined.

To have a symbol of the nation’s new ethical philosophy, Puritos had a tower built that would reach, and even surpass, the clouds; it would be the tallest building in the world, and if anyone, anywhere, tried to make a taller structure, an extension would be added to Puritos’ tower to ensure that it would always be the tallest building.

He started work on the tower immediately, and funds came from the government, which inordinately taxed the wealthy (in their opinion); for such taxation was part of a strict avoidance of the tenth Error, to avert greed. Merchants all over Spirus furiously opposed the building of this tower; to them, it was a waste of money that would be better used to keep the local economy healthy, in creating new jobs for Sprius’ population. Neither Puritos nor the government that backed him listened to the merchants: it was as though both sides spoke different languages, and neither could understand each other.

Puritos and his builders had been making a very impressive structure at first. The tower was almost touching the clouds, and the foundation was sturdy enough. Then word came of another tower being built in Vestis, to be taller than that of Puritos. Not to be bested, he had his workers accelerate their efforts, not at all concerned that their lack of rest was the fourth Error to be avoided. In their hurried work, their construction became increasingly careless, and finally Drofurb, Crim of the rock of the earth, caused the upper structure to collapse, damaging the lower tower and ultimately making the whole building fall to the ground. Puritos, his workers, and hundreds of people in the nearby area–including his family–were killed.

To worsen matters, the waste of money did cause harm to the local economy, as the merchants had predicted. From then on, the application of avoiding the Ten Errors would not be so strict, and offenders were shown more leniency.

Commentary

In this tale we yet again see what must be a branch from a common ancestor myth from which sprang such Biblical elements as the Decalogue, Ham’s seeing Noah’s naked drunkenness, and even a bit of the Tower of Babel (“it was as though both sides spoke different languages, and neither could understand the other” as the tower was built).

As for the meaning of the tale, we learn from it that moral laxity is a weak structure, soon to fall and bring shame to everyone. Excessive moral rigour, however, is also doomed to failure, as it is a product of overweening pride.

The higher the hubris, the harder the fall. Both Medias and Puritos were correct, each in his own way, about how to avoid the Ten Errors. A middle way between extremes is the best way, but a Cycle of Decay causes that middle way to move upwards, in opposition to the decline. One must, therefore, take care not to ascend on too steep a path, or else one may be blinded by the clouds, and not see the cliff one is about to fall off of.

The following is yet another concrete poem, this clumsy English rendering being the best possible one to present as much of the original’s multi-faceted meaning as can be shown.

When
ethics are
conceived with
little thought,
they’re like ramshackle huts:
they’re so ill-wrought

that when………
tempted, we blow on them like gales,
and we make ruins of men’s………..
long travails…………………………

When
pride
would
make
of
right
and
wrong
a
tower
reaching
too
high,

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>time,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>stress,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>and
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>strain
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>will
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>topple
>>>>>>>>>>>>>it;
>>>>>>>hubris
>>>>>will
>>>fall,
>and
die.