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Lexicon index
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Metahistory Lexicon
written and compiled by John Lash
Perhaps universal history is the history of
the diverse intonations of a few metaphors.
- Jorge Luis Borges, “Pascal’s Sphere,” 1951
"Tree of Letters," Medieval
woodcut, colored.
Reading and writing are accessories to civilization, and all it entails, for good
and ill. In the post-modern era, literacy may revert to what it was in the Middle
Ages, the privilege of an elite few, but the value of learning is a constant in any sustainable culture. Learning is both the theme and the application of the Lexicon. It remains to be
seen what can be learned about being human in the post-humanist world.
How the Lexicon Works
Needless to say, the purpose of the Lexicon is to
define words, but not just to do that. To serve the purposes
specific to metahistory, the Lexicon must provide more than a
mere rehash of dictionary meanings. A good many of the entries
found herein can also be found in any dictionary, of course,
but the definitions given here are designed to enhance and augment
metahistorical inquiry. They are customized for the discourse
underway, but these definitions, novel though they might be,
are merely accessory to the central purpose of the Lexicon: to
alter the syntax in which beliefs are stated and evaluated.
Some words take on a completely novel spin
consistent with the method and aims of the Metahistory Dialogue.
For instance, the common dictionary definition of the word “proposition” is
hardly worth consulting, for this word is not difficult to understand.
But the definition for this entry in
the Lexicon is another matter, with quite special connotations.
It refers to a specific way of handling beliefs, contrasted to
"propagation." Wherever such custom-made definitions occur,
the Lexicon presents the language (the idiom or jargon,
if you will) through which new forms of expression,"talk that changes," can
emerge. Adoption of this idiom is voluntary. I am not
attempting to instigate a cult of discourse comparable, say,
to French deconstructionism. If the jargon fits, use it. It
is intended to be playful rather than programmatic.
In Metahistory we are growing a language to describe
humanity in the Gaian perspective and to foster co-evolutionary vision
Some entries are quite ordinary like science and delusion,
yet the definitions given for them are developed along lines
that go beyond ordinary assumptions and
assumed semantic limits. One need only take a look at the definition
for act to see how metahistorical “jargon” affords a
chance to expand and refine our powers of expression.
Some entries present terms of technical or
academic significance such as thought insertion (from cult
psychology) and trope (an academic term referring to the way
facts are expressed in figurative language, rather than literally).
Once again, these terms come to mean in metahistory something
more and different than they do in ordinary usage. Terms drawn
from psychology and psychotherapy are frequent and subject to wide
elaboration because of the beliefs implied in them.
Metahistorical discourse runs to some extent on parallel tracks
with psychological theories, especially when those theories propose
beliefs concerning human potential. From the days of Freud and
Jung, psychotherapy has adopted a great many belief-loaded
assumptions about humanity, its relation to God and Nature,
and the supernatural and superhuman dimensions of experience.
The Lexicon exposes and explores these assumptions, often shifting
the manner
in which they can be viewed.
The five master themes of the Arch of Metahistory are all defined in the Lexicon. These entries are intended
to illuminate the themes in ways not fully elaborated in the
corresponding texts. Sometimes a key concept cannot be adequately
developed within the text that introduces it: for instance,
the three formats are mentioned
several times in the Themes, but without explanatory comment.
The reason is that elaboration
might load down
or divert the main line of discourse. The Lexicon entry is
there to supplement and sometimes sharpen the textual treatment of the
term.
Digressions are inevitable
in metahistorical discourse, for seminal ideas are bound to
be spread around in different locations. As the tree of learning
grows, the language permutates.
The Lexicon contains quotations for some entries:
for instance, utility. It may also use illustrations: for instance,
the Tibetan icon in the entry for theogamy. Poetry may be cited
where it illustrates a belief or encapsulates a well-known
script: for instance, the lines from the Homeric hymn to
Demeter for theophany.
In many cases, the words defined are treated in
terms of the stories, scripts and scenarios that illustrate
the beliefs associated with those terms: for instance, revealed
religion. On its technical side, the Lexicon expands and applies the
methodology of metahistory, but it does so, as often as possible,
by drawing upon the rich array of myths and stories that
enshrine the universal human heritage of belief.
Additional to its role in providing definitions,
the Lexicon serves as a free-form catalogue of beliefs about
humanity and human potential. It includes jokes, anecdotes,
personal beefs, reveries, riddles, even tests. Here and
there occurs a comic break to remind us that humor plays,
and has always played, a crucial role in demasking pretences
and defusing illusions. If some of the beliefs so
passionately embraced by homo sapiens are delusional or insane,
it will take humor to admit the error and let go of
identification. Delusional and insane beliefs could well
be the long-sought source of what is evil in human behavior.
It has been suggested
that
humor, particularly in the form of satire,
may be the best antidote to evil.
Finally, the Lexicon is also a labyrinth, a maze intended
to amaze. According to Cretan myth, the hero Theseus found
his way out of the labryinth of Daedalus by following the thread
he unrolled as he went in. Legend says that the thread was
given to him by Ariadne, a weaver. Like Mnemosyne,
Ariadne is a name for conjuring. Her gift is innate to us
all, the genetic thread, the strand of a different story.
And the secret you hold in the breath streaming between your
teeth.
JLL, rev. July 2004
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