Philosophical Dialogues VIII

By  Franz J. T. Lee

Essence  a n d  Existence VIII

29th October, 1999 

AVICEBRON


SCENE:   Philosophy Seminar 

(The next class. Prof. Coseino arrives very early. He is in a very happy mood! Why? Some students tease him, asking him whether he has escaped safely the traffic jam this time, and what kind of secret arm he has developed against mobile bottle-necks. In a joyful manner, he gives his introductory lecture on the "History of Philosophic Plagiarism", and then the debate sets in.)

Coseino: As promised, today, let us pay Avicebron a cordial philosophic visit! This class today is dedicated to all lovers of arts, music, poetry, festivity and philosophy. Concerning the personal life of Avicebron, we only have fragmentary information.

Martina: These Arabic names are so exciting, again, Professor, please give us the full name of Avicebron.

Coseino: To please you all, here is his sonorous Arabic-Latin name:

SOLOMON BEN YEHUDA IBN GABIROL, Arabic: ABU AYYUB SULAYMAN IBN YAHYA IBN GABIRUT, Latin: AVICEBRON, OR AVENCEBROL, was born around 1022 in Málaga, Caliphate of Córdoba, and he died around 1058, /70 in Valencia, Kingdom of Valencia.

During the so-called "Jewish Golden Age" in Moorish Spain, he, as Neoplatonic philosopher, belonged to the Hebrew school of religious and secular poetry.

Alfred: Please, at least, could you tell us something about his early life and career?

Coseino: Alfred, are you now directing Jewish religious cinema, perhaps, producing films like "Jesus of Nazareth" or "The Last Temptation"?

Adam: What Alfred probably wants to know is whether he could make a thriller out of "Our Father" or "Psalm 23" .

Coseino: Well, then he is in the "right" company, his next thriller would be called "The Fountain of Life". Okay, Alfred, here we go.

Avicebron was also one of those famous precocious children, who had gained fame already at the age of 16. By the way, thinking about it, what were you all doing at that tender age? Playing "Cowboys and Crooks"? "Hide and Go Seek"? Or, looking secretly at "Horror" Films? At Alfred Hitchcock?

Avicebron received his early education in Saragossa, he joined
learned circles of Cordovan refugees, to which famed scholars belonged; soon he acquired the patronage of the influential courtier, Yekutiel ibn Hasan, to whom he dedicated many poems later. In Andalusia, the customary cultured language was still Arabic, but Hebrew progressively advanced as a poetic language.

Patricia: Are any of his poems of youth preserved, we would love to listen to a literary sample?

Coseino: Oh my romantic Patricia! I will cite you a small "appetizer", a section of one translated into English, dedicated to you and Mahatma. But, it is also an inspiration for all youth, for all our "buzzing hornets", who still have an emancipating spark within themselves. Later I will cite from other poetic works. With the poem, which I shall quote now, Avicebron already at the age of 16 became famous:

". . . My song is a crown for kings
and mitres on the heads of governors.
My body walks upon the earth,
while my spirit ascends to the clouds.
Behold me: at sixteen my heart
like that of a man of eighty is wise."

Avicebron, at the age of 16, already enjoyed the "wisdom" of 80.
Most of us, at 80, behave like 16 year olds; at 16, some of us are already "cool", 80 year old, senile Zombies. However, this ingenious poetic talent also caused genuine problems; unwisely, with personal satire, Avicebron assailed another poetic talent, Samuel ha-Nagid, a rising Jewish statesman and vizier in the Berber kingdom of Granada. He was forced to make poetic amends; but this was not all, Avicebron then engaged himself within the linguistic skirmishes between the Saragossa and Grenada grammarians. This valiant, "emancipated" Cordovan rebel offended the orthodox ruling classes propagating heresies such as childlessness, denunciation of the "world," and Neoplatonism. This was too much for the religious and political authorities.

This marked the beginning of his socio-political career; out of fear for his life, he had to flee from Saragossa.

Jeanette: Are there any extant poems which mark this dramatic period?

Coseino: Of course, enjoy a part of this revolutionary masterpiece, of his farewell message, "The Song of Strife":

"Sitting among everybody crooked and
foolish his [the poet's] heart only was wise.

The one slakes you with adder's poison,
the other, flattering, tries to confuse your
head.

One, setting you a trap in his design
will address you: "Please, my lord."

A people whose fathers I would despise
to be dogs for my sheep . . . . "

For sure, the above we could dedicate to the NATO watch-dogs of Globalization, nowadays howling on Arabian soil, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe!

Although his patron Yekutiel warned him several times, Avicebron continued with his Neoplatonic onslaught against the Arab orthodoxy. He began writing a collection of proverbs and moral treatises. Political power struggles evolved, and during the raging battles, although innocent, his patron Yekutiel was arrested and executed.

Bill: To survive, Avicebron and Avicenna seemed to have shared a common fate, they had to change their patrons as often as we nowadays have to update our software. But, could his "poetic colleague" and statesman Samuel ha-Nagid not help him?

Coseino: Bill, you are online! This is exactly what happened. He needed Avicebron's poetic prestige, hailed with messianic tinges  for the success of his own political campaigns. All other personal data can only be gathered from his poetry and writings. We only know that he died in Valencia, but the date is not even sure.

Patricia: Of what significance is his Poetry to us, to our Philosophy?

Coseino: Now we can introduce the philosophic "Thriller" :
Fountain of Life. This work, written in five treatises, which is preserved only in its Latin translation, had exercised great influence on the Kabbalists, i.e., on Jewish, esoteric mysticism. Although severely attacked by Thomas Aquinas, it left a mark on Christian Scholasticism.

Mahatma: You mentioned earlier that Avicebron studied Neoplatonism, and as we have seen last week, this is the direction of the Aristotelian "Right", now how come that Avicebron belongs to the "Aristotelian Left"?

Coseino: Brilliant! An Excellent Question! Superb Memory and Precise Reasoning!

Indira: Furthermore, referring to my philosophic exposition with reference to Averroes, last week, what innovative enrichment did Avicebron have to offer, concerning the Aristotelian Doctrine of Form and Substance?

Coseino: I will answer both questions by reviewing the essence
a n d   existence of his specific Philosophy.
Based in Neoplatonism, but using the Aristotelian Logic, metaphysically Avicebron developed his own philosophic system,
into which he introduced a Divine "Will", "Word" or "Logos".

Indira: Did it have any relation to the pantheistic  natura naturata   a n d    natura naturans? To "creating"  a n d   "created"  Nature?

Coseino: Definitely! He conceived this "Logos" as the relation of "Creativity of God 
a n d  with God", like our Einai, like Essence
 a n d   Existence, like Sun  a n d  Sunlight. Also, he introduced Nothing or "Nothingness" as a concept, as the Potentiality For Creation. Here is the link, the relation to Aristotle's dynamei on, to In-Possibility-Being. The philosophic God "creates" (links or relates) directly out of Nothing. Cosmos has a specific relation to Nothing, and vice versa, which Einai or Existence has not got.

In a Neoplatonic manner, Substance, Matter emanates directly from the "Deity", from Itself -- in our sense, from Cosmos itself, out off Nothing. Opposed to the Dominican Order, to Thomas Aquinas, the Franciscan School of Scholastics accepted his philosophic doctrine. Against Avicebron and the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Order of the Inquisition,  insisted that "form", the "divine spirit" (and only one, not many)
is the one and only creative principle.

Indira, our Averroes expert, try to solve this crossword puzzle!

Indira: Let me see, if I can resolve this philosophic puzzle! I reason that the philosophic argument should be as follows: since Substance, or Matter, according to both Aristotle and Plotin, "yearns for a relation with Form, "yearns to fall in love with Form, "yearns for formation", it moves towards the deity, towards Form, in the sense of "Nearer My God To Thee".

This, then causes pandemonium, "rotation of the spheres". With Epicurean atomist appetite, the finest matter of the highest, of the "divine" spheres is dynamically being propelled by this strongest "yearning," which, of course, logically, emanates from God and which again returns to him; but, what has this got to do with us? Oh! I see,  this desire is also active in the "human being". It is his "will", his "will power". An excellent Erotic Love Story, Prof. Coseino, my only problem is, that it is too good not to be true!

Alfred: Eureka: jacta est alea! Hurrah! I got it! This seems to me like "THE  END" in Dante's "Divine Comedy": "The Love which Moves the Sun and the other Stars" .

Coseino: Congratulations, You Two! In "Fountain of Life", this depicts precisely Avicebron's train of philosophic thought. Superb Transcendence!  As always, we have to be on our way now, but we will be back in a few days! Thank you all for an excellent Friday Afternoon Philosophic Festival.

(Little does he know that the Party is just beginning. Suddenly all the students begin to sing: Happy Birthday! A majestic birthday cake, potentially flavoured to satisfy all the epicurean yearnings of the whole class, appears on the scene. The Curtain Falls! )


(continued)