Over my head

My brain was aching yesterday as I edited several documents related to the Manual da Bíblia Hebraica (Handbook to the Hebrew Bible), published by Edições Vida Nova in Brazil. My job was to polish up the English in a descriptive preview of the book and in the sample translation of one of the chapters. Both of these documents will be sent to potential buyers of the English language rights. (This could be the first Vida Nova book to be sold for translation outside of Brazil!)

Hebrew is an unexplored frontier for me, so I was struggling to make sense of the references to Hebrew textual criticism and to the many related source documents which elucidate the text of the Hebrew Bible. I carefully stuck to the English grammatical questions, while at the same time hoping not to accidentally change the meaning of the material!

Today, an article on the web put my (mild) suffering into perspective, and even made me feel good about the process!

Mortimer Adler argues in "Invitation to the Pain of Learning" that true learning does not happen without painful effort. That's because learning is an "internal intellectual activity" that requires thinking, and thinking is hard work! (The locker room version: No Pain, No Gain.)

When I felt adrift in Hebrew studies technical jargon, I was learning. Adler explains it like this:

Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up the ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles.

Some of Adler's comments could well apply to our Bible study habits.

So, embrace the pain of learning. If smoke starts coming out of your head, take a break!