It's what's inside

Translation is merely an exercise in transferring ideas behind words. However, translations bring more than mere ideas. For example, when a child uses the word candy, one thinks of cheap candy, nickle candy, and sees a smile that so easily comes to a child's lips over simple things. When an adult uses the word candy, one might think of a holiday like Valentine's, boxed candy, or a gift, as in Lady Godiva candy, or lack of discipline because candy contains so many calories, almost anything except something simple. But translating candy into Tibetan probably loses the difference conjured by an American between adult and children's candy. It probably loses the smile from the child's lips, the calories from the undisciplined adult, the thoughtfulness conveyed by the box at Valentine's.

So it makes me wonder why the Maker of the universe depended so much on getting some ideas in a book that might lose so much by transferring ideas since words rarely conjure the same picture from one culture to another, much less from one era to another over two milennia. Then again, I think humans may have become misguided over the ages. The Son of Man said he would send another to stand beside us, to live within us. In the modern era, the book has trumped the one living within. But, the words passed on reveal that the message might spark a belief, but that the belief takes on a life of its own, the spirit within. The Maker of words also knew about ideas getting lost. So, the words passed on, pass the torch to the spirit within. A modern follower of the Son of Man doesn't have to depend on letter accuracy of a book, but on decency of living in the eyes of his peers. Goodness takes on many shapes and doesn't lose meaning like words changing languages or cultures or eras.