ABC

in #letters2 years ago

Twenty-two foundation letters:
He engraved them, He carved them,
He permuted them, He weighed them,
He transformed them,
And with them, He depicted all that was formed
and all that would be formed....
Twenty-two foundation Letters:
He placed them in a circle
like a wall with 231 gates.
The circle oscillates back and forth....
He formed substance out of chaos
and made nonexistence into existence.
He carved great pillars from air
that cannot be grasped.
This is a sign
[Alef with them all, and all of them with Alef].
He foresees, transforms and makes
all that is formed and all that is spoken:
one Name.
A sign for this thing:
Twenty-two objects in a single body....
a rule of twelve
and seven and three:
He set them in the Teli, the Cycle, and the Heart....
He bound the twenty-two letters of the Torah to his tongue

Brian R. Pellar, “On the Origins of the Alphabet” Sino-Platonic Papers, 196 (December 2009)