3) Problem

Before resuming our in-depth exploration of the concept of alternation and ambivalence at the heart of « ShaTa », let's start, as usual, from the here and now. Some of you have probably heard of « marketplaces », companies that connect buyers and sellers (Amazon was one of the forerunners in the 2000s).

Initiating a marketplace is tricky. It’s the well-known ChiCken-and-eGG problem: how do you bring in sellers if you don't have any buyers? And conversely, how can you bring in buyers if you don't have any sellers ? I am acutely aware of this issue, having suffered from it for the past 10 years...

In economics, we call this a « TWo-SiDed » market (or a « BiFaCe » market, like the French call them) - which, incidentally, is merely the transposition, on a market scale, of the challenge any company faces: how to get customers without suppliers or employees, and conversely, how to have suppliers, or employees, when there are no customers yet.

And a company is also a « biface » entity: its BaLanCe sheet is divided into aSSeTs (what its customers oWe it, its wealth) and LiaBiLities (its debts and the capital invested by its shareholders). Here is again the BiPoLar aspect mentioned in my previous video about the seasonal settling and nomadic movements embodied by « ShaTa ».

Of course, if you're on track, you know that a « BiFaCe » is first and foremost the ChiSeLed FLiNT I mentioned in the « TaRa » series, rotating around its aXiS of SyMMeTRy, which gives it its « right form ». And this axis of symmetry is « ShaTa », the straight stake. Symmetry lies behind both « ShaTa » and « TaRa ». It is a very, very ancient idea, dating back to the aCheuLean, the flint knapping technique of our ancestor Homo Erectus, 1,760,000 years ago.

Neolithic pottery is infused with symmetry, with DuaLity, like in this humanoid figure with two legs, two arms - one raised, the other lowered - and two fingers hands. It’s on page 47 of the French edition of The Language of the Goddess, the wonderful book by Marija Gimbutas, the eminent Lithuanian feminist archaeologist, which will be our companion for a while.

This concept of duality, of two SiDes, appears in every tradition around the world, particularly those of the Eurasian continent, whether in the Torah, the Koran, the Gathas or Taoism. In the Gathas, for instance, the classic writing of ZaRaThuSTRa, two words, Asha and Arta, refer to the same concept of Righteousness (I've already pointed out that « Sha-RaTa » pops up there as well).

The Gathas are entirely structured around this duality, between the material and the spiritual, the right and the wrong path, life and non-life, existence and nothingness, action and reaction, inside and outside, happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and suffering, highs and lows, reward and punishment, friendship and hostility, light and darkness, poverty and wealth. These pairs are so commonplace that we don’t pay attention to them anymore. But a Messiah’s talent is his ability to perceive what is oblivious to everyone. Especially opposites, so as to reconcile them.

4) Addendum on Sha-Ta

However, before we embark on this great messianic journey, I must talk about PoLySeMy: the capacity of a word to have several MeaNings (we already came across this). Polysemy is key in Paleolithic linguistics, because for hundreds of thousands of years, language was highly ambiguous: words and concepts had not yet been as clearly defined.

Each word could therefore mean one thing and its opposite, as in myths where evil and good are often intermingled, especially in the famous TRiCkster character, who plays tricks on heroes that are sometimes unpleasant, yet ultimately beneficial. Or as in the Yin-Yang SymBoL, always displaying a WhiTe DoT in the BLaCk and a black dot in the white.

This ambiguity is still found in many words, especially those we use frequently. In fact, polysemy is truly the strongest eViDence of the Paleolithic origins of language, as Saint Augustine explains when he states that: « if anyone should seek a truth quite different in those words, why would it not be right to believe that Moses (MoSheh MuwSaʔ) saw all these different truths » (Confessions chapter XXXI)

The time has therefore come for me to introduce you to my new friend, « PoLiSSoN » the unseizable naughty polysemous ChaMeLeon, wearing 10 CoLoRs and a SPiRaL🍥 tail. « Polisson » means mischievous, usually with some sexual connotation in French (as usual with French people – think « Pépé le Pew » …). He will be with us throughout this new CyCLe, a deep immersion into the heart of the sound « Sa », « Sha », « Tha » and human CoGNition... This journey will last 10 videos. I call them the « ʕaSeRet haDiBRowt », the ten stories of the Paraklet; ten stories which were most likely passed down over hundreds of thousands of years from father to son, but especially from MoTheR to daughter.

Each time we’ll come across a polysemous word (and God knows there are lots including « Sha »), Polisson will give us the other colors of each polysemous occurrence of the word, each color referring to one of these 10 videos, or 10 stories. This video is the Pink🩷 one, as will be clear shortly.

To best way to begin this great polysemous journey is the verb NaSaʔ and the verb « to SeiZe ». Go ahead, Polisson, you're on! « Uh ... so NaSaʔ is Green 🟢, Purple 🟣, Yellow 🟡, and Black ⚫, and to seize is Orange 🟠, Yellow 🟡 and Light Blue 💎 ». There, you see, I told you it wouldn't be so hard. Indeed, NaSaʔ and to seize both have a lot of different meanings, starting with that of taking in one's hand, a SPeaR for instance, like in Isaiah 2:4:

« He will be the judge of the nations, The arbiter of many peoples. With their swords they will forge axes, And with their spears pruning hooks: One nation shall not take up (seize) SWoRD against another, neither shall they learn war any more ».

A neighbor of « to seize » is « to use ». « Use is also Red 🔴 ». I agree Polisson. In fact, the first lines of the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao Tzu in the 4th century B.C., feature « to seize » and « to use » (Chant 1)

The Tao that can be seized (told of) is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; The Named is the mother of all things. Therefore, let there always be non-being, so we may seize (see) their subtlety, and let there always be being, so we may seize (see) their outcome. The two are the same, but after they are produced, they have different names. They both may be called deep and profound. Deeper and more profound, The door to all subtleties!

What are you Pharisians saying? In « to use », you don't hear Ss but Z ? Oh, I get it. But the S transforms a lot, you know. We'll come back to Ss and Z later, but for now, trust the Paraklet, he knows « the Way ».

Once you're holding a SPeaR, what do you do? You STiCk it into the ground. And for those of you who've never DRiVen a tent peg, look at the documentary « Pygmies of the Ituri rainforest », it'll give you a hint of how it's done (at the 22nd minute) - we'll come back to the great Forest People in my next video.

Another STaKe that can be SeiZed is the aXLetree (eSSieu in French), seized by the wagon and the wheels. In Egyptian, WeS means the TiP of the pyramid (from now on, instead of drawing hieroglyphics, I'll be transcribing them into phonetic writing). What are you saying Polisson? « WeS is Yellow 🟡 too ». All right.

The SCReW (ViS In French) is also PoiNTed, while in Greek SauRôTèR is the metal SPiKe at the BaSe of a spear, thanks to which it can be driven into the ground - and which has nothing to do with saurians (Are you hearing this Pharisians?). All right, SNaKes do STinG with their ToNGue, but we'll come back to the pointed tongue later.

Indeed, the spike is very important and has been for a very long time. We've already talked a lot about how « ShaTa » conveys the idea of a spike - with « to STiTCh », for instance (SuTuRer in French). But as you can see, this spike meaning is already conveyed by « Sha » alone. As Saint Augustine said, to penetrate the most HiDDen SeCReTs you need a pointed, ShaRP MiND (the mind of a MeSSiah!). By the way, Polisson, did I tell you that my last I Ching reading was « Guai », the BReaKThRouGh? But we'll come back to the Breakthrough in a moment.