My current work on The Atternen Juez Talen is taking place in Portugal and Spain in the years leading up to 1492, a momentous and disastrous year.

The Eternal Jew has become the secretary to the treasurer of Portugal, Don Isaac Abarbanel. Outside his work for the government, Don Isaac, the Eternal Jew, and Batkol (the Eternal Jew’s wife) are compiling notes on making spiritual ascents into the upper spheres of the soul.

Their researches try to create a map, to lay out the stages/levels of the soul ( what we might now call the unconscious, or in Jungian terms, the collective unconscious) and how those stages will be experienced — what will be seen, what will be felt, how to proceed, how to know where you are, and how to know where to go from where you are. You might call it ‘existential Kabbalah.’

Unfortunately, with the death of King Alfonso V, the new king, John II, is obsessed with consolidating his power over the independent princes of the kingdom. This leads to a blood bath, and Don Isaac and his retinue must flee to Castile (in modern-day Spain). Don Isaac decides to abandon his researches. Deeply disappointed, the Eternal Jew transcribes what notes they have, hoping at a later time they’ll be able to return to the project.

What follows is the introduction to the section entitled The Ladder of Ascents. Below, I present first the metaEnglish version in poetry, and then the “old English” (what you call modern English) translation in prose.

Now, I bin sor let down by this.
Shor fowndatenz kum beffor
Ubsservuttorreez on an upper dek,
But awlso shor, wen the hyumen seel
Be klaruffiez ennuf tu see
Beyon theze opake ellummenz,
An withowt unseen an distorten feelz,
Then perhaps theze noets that we kumpile
On hiten sens an speret ussents
May be uv yuse tu the arkutteks
Uv nu naeshenz an enliten seelz,
Tu aenjelfoke a nokken ar dor.
Aenjelfoke waeten on us tu urrize.
Theze noets then, may thay serv the Lor.

~~~~~~~~

Now, I been sore let down by this. Sure, foundations come before observatories on upper decks, but also, sure, when the human soul is clarified enough to see beyond these opaque elements, and without unseen and distorting feelings, then perhaps these notes that we compiled on heightened senses and spiritual ascents may be of use to the architects of new nations and enlightened souls, and to the angelfolk that knock at our door. Angelfolk waitin’ on us to arise. These notes, then, may they serve the Lor.