耶路撒冷秩序- 长夜中的闪电

在近年诸多动荡不安的暗流当中，能看到一些古人所察觉的问题以不同的形式再次出现在当代之中，若2023 年的人们考究古人写下这些句子日期，会发现那是500 年前1000年前或更早之前。
那是秩序的源起，是秩序的连锁，是秩序的分形(fractal)，它在长夜中会以闪电的形式暴鸣出现又瞬间遁去隐没，灵魂被它震憾，久久不能回复平常的神智，在视野再次暗淡下去后，人们不断尝试回忆那远离的惊鸿一瞥，那是耶路撒冷圣殿的闪影。

约莫800 年前，犹太哲人Maimonides ( Moses ben Maimon / Rambam / 迈蒙尼德)为他即将远行的学生写下一本书。

我为你及与你相似的人们写下这本书，无论这些人在数量上多么稀少。

which I have composed for you and for those like you, however few they are. [1]

这本书的英译是The Guide of the Perplexed ，(英译本其中一个版本的译者是Shlomo Pines ，芝加哥大学的Leo Strauss作导读)。中译「迷途指津」，译者是傅有德(按Friedlander的英译本译成，并参考了Shlomo Pines的英译)。

这本书在一开头，就说它并非大众而写，它的读者并非大众。

它主要服务的对象为

• 犹太社群里遵守犹太律法的犹太人，这是必要的律法与社群基础，脱离犹太律法与社群基础将无法完全理解必要的上下文与脉络

• 该犹太人需要理解到德性的真实性，并以德性为一切的行动准性，这是必要的道德基础。道德是一种知识。

• 该犹太人需要学习数学、天文等自然科学，这是必要的认知基础。可参考古典博雅教育中，trivium 是文法、修辞、逻辑，quadrivium 是天文、几何、算术、音乐。

• 该犹太人对神学哲学有更大的好奇，对何谓真实有一定的穿透感知与洞察，比较不世俗

• 长夜闪电亲和者

• 等等

The Guide of the Perplexed的开头，Maimonides说他的书无法解答所有神学上的难题，但能解决其中一大部份的困惑。

I do not say that this Treatise will remove all difficulties for those who understand it. I do, however, say that it will remove most of the difficulties, and those of the greatest moment. [1]

Maimonides又写，即使是我们，对神学神话上的暗喻与隐秘也并非完全掌握。

有时「真理」如闪电般划过天际，让我们误以为白昼已至，然惯性与物质性将其耀眼光芒捕捉藏匿，如此我们将再一次发现自己又身处暗晦长夜，像是什么都没有改变。

对有些人来说，闪电一次又一次的出现，如此他们的视野更接近持续光照，黑夜对这些人来说类同白天。这些人是先知中的远行者。对这些先知， Maimonides引用了申命记(Deuteronomy)的经文「只有你才能站在我的身旁(But as for thee, stand thou here by Me) 」再引出埃及记(Exodus)的「他的脸面放射出光芒(that the skin of his face sent forth beams, and so on) 」

对有些人来说，他们只在长夜中只瞥见过闪电一次。对这些人们， Maimonides引用了民数记(Numbers)的「他们就作出预言，不过仅此一次而已(they prophesied, but they did so no more) 」。

长夜中除了闪电还有不同的反光体，这些反光体受过打磨，由他们折射的微弱的光亮亦能吸引人们的注意。

You should not think that these great secrets are fully and completely known to anyone among us. They are not.

But sometimes truth flashes out to us so that we think that it is day, and then matter and habit in their various forms conceal it so that we find ourselves again in an obscure night, almost as we were at first. Weare like someone in a very dark night over whom lightning flashes time and time again. Among us there is one for whom the lightning flashes time and time again, so that he is always, as it were, in unceasing light. Thus night appears to him as day. That is the degree of the great one among the prophets, to whom it was said: But as for thee, stand thou here by Me, and of whom it was said: that the skin of his face sent forth beams, and so on.

Among them there is one to whom the lightning flashes only once in the whole of his night; that is the rank of those of whom it is said: they prophesied, but they did so no more. There are others between whose lightning flashes there are greater or shorter intervals. Thereafter comes he who does not attain a degree in which his darkness is illumined by any lightning flash. It is illumined, however, by a polished body or something of that kind, stones or something else that give light in the darkness of the night. And even this small light that shines over us is not always there, but flashes and is hidden again, as if it were the flaming sword which turned every way. It is in accord with these states that the degrees of the perfect vary. As for those who never even once see a light, but grope about in their night, of them it is said: They know not, neither do they understand; They go about in darkness. The truth, in spite of the strength of its manifestation, is entirely hidden from them, as is said of them: And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies. They are the vulgar among the people. There is then no occasion to mention them here in this Treatise . [1]

有些读者会联想到类似的比喻，如柏拉图洞穴等的寓言。

耶路撒冷秩序起源于长夜中的闪电。

对于习惯晦暗的人们，他们难以想像闪电的轰鸣与其致命的光芒。而起码见过一次闪电的人们，当他们尝试沟通他们所见，他们也只能尽可能以贴近人们日常生活的语言与象征来描绘那遁走的奇迹。

有的人们尝试把闪电画下来，黄色的，如树支的，强大的，愤怒的，致命的，贯通天地的，快速的又永恒的，广布四方的但又只有一线。

假设，他们的语言只有emoji 。

那么闪电的「形容」可能会变成这样

⚡😡😵💀✨💫💡🔥 = 闪电

1000 年之后，有人们拿着这串emoji ⚡😡😵💀✨💫💡🔥，顺着背倒着背跳着背，然后说他们理解闪电，并且说他们通晓闪电秩序。

而这也是必然的发展分支之一，这是可以预料到的结果。

在这几百年一千年间，有的人们看到⚡ 这个符号，深深的著迷，他们在平凡的生活中有自己的家庭工作要忙，但也在闲暇中不时仰望星空。

这些对应着芝加哥大学学者Leo Strauss对exoteric (ἐξωτερικός) / esoteric (ἐσωτερικός)的理解，即「书写两面性」的理解。

学者Arthur Melzer着有一本Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing [2] ，中译「字里行间的哲学」(译者是赵柯)。在这一本书中， Arthur Melzer提供了大量历史上「书写两面性」的案例，并且分析了那些前人为何如此做(一方面是为了社会整体的安康，一方面是为了个人的安全)。

[1] Maimonides . The Guide of the Perplexed. Translated by Shlomo Pines. University of Chicago Press, 1963.

[2] Melzer, Arthur M. Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing. University of Chicago Press, 2014.