Wisdom and Cheese (General)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Thursday, December 01, 2011, 18:17 (4549 days ago) @ dhw

It is indeed, but I must tell you that there is a dangerous, though understandable error in its conclusion: “There appears to be a physical connection between cheese and wisdom as this passage indicates that eating cheese can bring about wisdom.”

I suppose where I found the 'wisdom and cheese' remark in the original link to be humorous instead of literal, others might not.

Very interesting story. Thank you very much for sharing your enlightenment with us. I enjoyed it immensely. Funny, but the word intent also get mistranslated with the word chocolate. Indeed, "the road to hell is paved with good chocolate". :P

The separating of good and bad, or function and dysfunction, is described in the article as the definition of wisdom by the process of applying heat/energy/effort/thought and shaking/discerning/separating.(which by the way IS also an adequate description of what happens when you make cheese).

If you had looked at some of the other materials on the site, you might have also noticed that there is not a Hebrew word for good and bad. Those are abstracts much more in line with Greek thinking than Ancient Hebrew. The words most often translated as good and bad are simply 'functional and dysfunctional', what works, and what doesn't. More specifically, "dysfunctional" as in something that does not function within its intended purpose, and "functional" as its opposite, or something that DOES function within its intended purpose.

Which brings be back around full circle to the concept of sin(sorry Bella, its just a useful word) as a binary concept of correct and not correct, functional or dysfunctional.

The other thing that I have found fascinating digging through this site is how much of the 'religious' context is completely removed from things. For example, in their mechanical translation of Genesis(freely available download) you will find this translation of Genesis 1:1-4

in the summit “Elohiym [Powers]” fattened the sky and the land,
and the land had existed in confusion and was unfilled and darkness was upon the face of the deep sea and the wind of “Elohiym [Powers]” was much fluttering upon the face of the water, and “Elohiym [Powers]” said, light exist and light existed,and “Elohiym [Powers]” saw the light given that it was functional.

Summit here is the origin, or beginning, which is how it is normally translated, but 'Powers' is normally translated as God, which is in turn used synonymously with YHWH in later translations. The other word that is curiously interesting is 'fatten'. This word has a lot of different connotations, but the general meaning is To make more substantial, fleshy or plump. fatten or fill up. There is no mention of 'create'.

i.e. There is nothing implying generation of that which does not previously exist. Was what existed already made 'more substantial'? Or was it created by the 'Powers'?

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.