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JEWISH PHILOSOPHY |
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by Solomon Ibn Gabirol
A soul whose raging tempests widely rise, wither shall she send her meditations? She rages, and is like a flame of fire, whose smoke constantly ascends. This time her meditations are like a wheel that turns around on the earth and the multitudes thereof, or like the seas wherein the earth's foundations were fastened: "How canst thou be so strong and filled with courage, that thou disdainest a place upon the stars? From the path of wisdom turn thou away thy heart; the world shall then smooth thy path for thee." Oh comfort ye my soul for that, my friends, and likewise for her sorrows comfort her; she thirsts for a man of prudence, but finds not a man to slake her thirst. See ye amongst the men of fame, perchance there may be one to grant her desires. If this world sins against me, my heart will regard it disdainfully. If it cannot see my light with its eye, let the world then be contented with its blindness. But afterwards, if it appeases me, I shall turn round, and forgive its sins. The earthly sphere would then be good; the hand of Time would place no yoke upon the wise. Oh too much wrong didst thou commit; long have the gourds been as cedars of the earth. Despise the vile ones of the people, for stones are less burdensome to me than they. Cut off the tail of them that say to me: "Where is then wisdom and her votaries?" Oh that the world would judge them aright! oh that it would give food unto her sons! They would then rest, not toil, and would attain their goal, without knowing worldly joys. Some took the sun's daughters, and begot folly, but they were not its sons-in-law. Why do ye chide me for my understanding, O ye thorns and briers of the earth? If wisdom is of light esteem to you, vile and despised are ye in her sight. Though she is closed, and reaches not your heart, lo, I shall open her chests. How shall I now abandon wisdom, since God's spirit made a covenant between us? or how shall she forsake me, since she is like a mother to me and I am the child of her old age? or like an ornament which adorns the soul, or like a necklace on her neck. How can ye say to me: "Take off thy ornaments, and remove the precious chain from her neck?" In her my heart rejoices, and is glad, because her rivers of delights are pure. Throughout my life I shall make my soul ascend until her abode is beyond the clouds. For she adjured me not to rest, until I fin the knowledge of her Master.
Excerpted from Seek Wisdom, by Solomon Ibn Gabirol, in Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature, Jewish Publication Society of America. |
The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy, by Daniel H. Frank
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