Dooyeweerd: Philosophy of the Rainbow/ Feallsanachd a' Bhogha-fhrois

      

     Is e lèirsinn cumte a rèir spiorad Crìosdalachd radacaich (san t-seagh seo, Cailbhineach) a th' ann an tuigse seo na smaoine-lagha, le a fòcas teòiriceach air taobhan-cèille ar cosmais. Bidh mi a' cleachdadh samhla gus an lèirsinn seo a dhèanamh nas soilleire dhaibhsan nach eil foghlaimte ann am feallsanachd.

("This understanding of the law-Idea, in its theoretic focus on the meaning-sides of our cosmos is a vision formed in the spirit of a radical Christianity (in this sense Calvinistic). I use a symbol in order to bring this vision closer to those not schooled in philosophy.)

Tha solas na grèine air a ath-raonadh tro phriosam agus thig e am follais dhan t-sùil an riochd sgàinidh dha seachd dathan aithnichte an speactraim. Annta fhèin, tha dathan uile an speactraim nan ath-raonaidhean eisimeileach dhen t-solais neo-bhriste, agus chan fhaodar fear seach fear dhiubh a ghabhail mar bhun-stèidh diofarachadh nan dathan gu lèir. A bharrachd air sin, chan eil dath seach dath ann as eugmhais a cho-leanailt le dathan eile an speactraim. Nuair a thèid an solas neo-bhriste a bhacadh, tha clàr nan dath a' dol à bith buileach glan. 

(The light of the sun is refracted though a prism and appears to the eye as split up into the known seven colours of the spectrum. All colours of the spectrum are in themselves dependent refractions of the unrefracted light, and none of these colours may be regarded as integral to the differentiation of all of the colours. Further, not one of the seven colours exists outside of its coherence with the other colours of the spectrum. When the unrefracted light is intercepted, the whole play of colours vanishes into nothing.)

Is e a th' anns an t-solas neo-bhriste ach iomlanachd ciall thìm-tharcheumnach ar cosmais a thaobh a laghalachd is a shuibseigeachd. Dìreach mar a tha tùs aig an t-solas seo ann am màthair-adhbhar an t-solais, tha tùs aig iomlanachd ciall ar cosmais san Arché aige, Tron is Don a rinneadh e. 

(The unrefracted light is the time-transcending totality of meaning of our cosmos in respect to its law and subject side. Just as this light has its origin in the source of light, so does the totality of meaning of our cosmos have its origin in its Arché, through Whom and to Whom it has been created.)

Is e a th' anns a' phriosam a sgapas na dathan ach tìm chosmach, leis a bheil iomlanachd na cèille ga briseadh na raointean tìmeil.

(The prism that breaks up the colours is cosmic time, by which the fullness of meaning is broken into its temporal aspects.)

San dearbh dòigh nach eil seachd dathan an speactraim an eisimeil air càch a chèile mar mhàthair-adhbhar, chan eil na raointean tìmeil an eisimeil air càch a chèile nas mò, ach tha uachdaranachd aig gach fear dhiubh am broinn a mheud-buaidh fhèin, a rèir brìgh gach meud-buaidh. 

(Just as the seven colours of the spectrum do not owe their origin to each other, so do each of these temporal aspects have, with respect to each other, sovereignty in their own sphere according to the meaning of each sphere.)

Ann an iomlanachd chràbhach na cèille chan eil ach aon lagh Dhè, dìreach mar nach eil ann ach aon pheacadh an aghaidh Dhè, dìreach mar nach eil ann ach aon chruitheachd a pheacaich ann an Adhamh. 

(In the religious fullness of meaning there is only one law of God, just as there is only one sin against God, just as there is only one creation that has sinned in Adam.)

Ach fo loidhne-crìche na tìme tha iomlanachd na cèille ag ath-raonadh (dìreach mar a bhios solas geal a' briseadh ann am priosam), a' toirt am follais an taobh-lagha agus an taobh-suibseig ann an eugsamhlachd torrach nan raointean, agus tha uachdaranachd aig gach raon na mheudan-buaidh fhèin. Tha gach fear dhe na raointean seo a' taisbeanadh iomlanachd na cèille bho thaobh a mhòdaileachd-cèille fhèin, a rèir modh a bhith fhèin ann an tìm.

("But under the boundary line of time the fullness of meaning breaks (just as white light breaks in a prism) into law and subject side in a rich variation of aspects that are sovereign in their own spheres. Each of these aspects displays the fullness of meaning in its own modality of meaning according to its temporal mode of being.")

(Dooyeweerd:"De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee" Vol I: 66, Beurla shuas eadar-theangaichte le Glenn Friesen)

"The re-formation of the cosmonomic Idea by the central motive of the Christian religion.

     From the Christian starting-point the cosmonomic Idea of our philosophy obtains the following contents: 

     To the ultimate transcendental question: What is the 'Ἀρχή of the totality and the modal diversity of meaning of our cosmos with respect to the cosmonomic side and its correlate, the subject-side? it answers: the sovereign holy will of God the Creator, who has revealed Himself in Christ. 

     To the second transcendental question, with respect to its cosmonomic-side: What is the totality of meaning of all modal aspects of the cosmic order, their supratemporal unity beyond all modal diversity of meaning? it answers: the requirement grounded in God's sovereignty, of the love and service of God and our fellow-creatures with our whole heart. To the same question, with respect to its subject-side, it answers: the new religious root of the human race in Christ (in which, indeed, nothing of our created universe can be lost) in subjection to the fulness of meaning of the divine law. 

     To the third transcendental question: What is the mutual relation between the modal aspects of reality? it answers: sphere-sovereignty, that is to say: mutual irreducibility, yet in the all-sided cosmic coherence of the different aspects of meaning, as this is regulated in God's temporal order of the world, in a cosmic order of time.

     In order to bring this cosmonomic Idea, in its theoretical focusing upon the modal aspects of meaning of our cosmos, nearer to the vision of those not schooled in philosophy, I use a very old symbol, which of course should not be interpreted in a physical sense.

     The light of the sun is refracted through a prism, and this refraction is perceived by the eye of sense in the seven wellknown colours of the spectrum. In themselves all colours are dependent refractions of the unrefracted light, and none of them can be regarded as an integral of the colour-differentiation.

     Further, not one of the seven colours is capable of existing in the spectrum apart from the coherence with the rest, and by the interception of the unrefracted light the entire play of colours vanishes into nothing.

     The unrefracted light is the time-transcending totality of meaning of our cosmos with respect to its cosmonomic side and its subject-side. As this light has its origin in the source of light, so the totality of meaning of our cosmos has its origin in its Ἀρχή through whom and to whom it has been created.

     The prism that achieves the refraction of colour is cosmic time, through which the religious fulness of meaning is broken up into its temporal modal aspects of meaning.

     As the seven colours do not owe their origin to one another, so the temporal aspects of meaning in face of each other have sphere-sovereignty or modal irreducibility.

     In the religious fulness of meaning, there is but one law of God, just as there is but one sin against God, and one mankind which has sinned in Adam.

     But under the boundary line of time this fulness of meaning with reference to its cosmonomic-side as well as to its subject-side separates, like the sunlight through the prism, into a rich variation of modal aspects of meaning. Each modal aspect is sovereign in its own sphere, and each aspect in its modal structure reflects the fulness of meaning in its own modality."

(Herman Dooyeweerd, New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Vol I, pp 101, 102)