What is Tabula Rasa?

Tabula Rasa needs to be placed into a contemporary format, so that it can be comprehended in our era. This is the dimino plot for today.

Simplify this, as much as possible. If one was to take a totally blank page of paper and to write upon it, it would be an act of writing on a page that has always been blank or one that was blank at one time and has been erased, since that time

For the tabula rasa, this would be writing on rock as a tablet, not paper. Or, more importantly, it would be considered to be comparable to writing on the human mind. In this case, the human mind would not have any contents, as its pages would be essentially blank or empty.

Tabula is a Latin word, coined in 1607, essentially meaning the word tablet. It can either be a smooth tablet, as one that had never been used or one that has been used and erased.

Once it has been written upon, it would not be smooth any longer. Remember that writing on a tablet in that era, would have been like writing on a soft rock. Whatever one wrote would cause a significant indentation. Ever try to write with flint on a rock?

Rasa is derived from the Latin word rasus, from the fourteenth century word raze, meaning to destroy or demolish, erase, scrape or to cut off. (1)

What does this signify for us today?

That is what I am going to suggest is the more contemporary aspect to this dimino plot.

I have stated previously that the word dimino suggests or refers to something that emerges out of somewhere and stands the test of time. This is opposed to the domino that leans on something else and does not stand the test of time, because initially, it has not been founded on anything that endures.

Using a more contemporary, simplified metaphorical comparison, let us suggest that there is some kind of a live volcano that is highly active with wisdom flowing, or spewing forth onto a blank page in the human mind.

For all intents and purposes, it is an eternal eruption that is essentially good, but can also be interpreted in terms of evil, disruption or chaos. Essentially, what it represents is a breaking through or a bursting forth of wisdom, on the horizon of time.

This wisdom is not something that appears to us in some pre-fabricated template format. There is no established mold in the human mind, into which the wisdom is being poured, but intricacies of wisdom and mysteries are being revealed to the human mind, over a period of time, because of what is happening.

There is no revelry either. The fanfare heralding this occurrence is absent.

This is but one side of the tabula rasa, ie. the input of wisdom into the human mind.

There is also another side to this, ie. the output of wisdom from the human mind.

What happens to that wisdom, over a period of time? Does it stay where it is in the human mind? One would have to say no. We know that there is an ongoing outpouring of wisdom flowing outward from the human mind. It is like huge rivers of water flowing downstream, to wherever it is destined to go.

Humankind always benefits from wisdom, if it is good. History tries to record both the good wisdom and that which is not good. Sometimes, history succeeds in doing this, but not always.

What about all of the wisdom that is lost along the way?

History records blank pages, books and volumes over time, where wisdom has disappeared for many different reasons. We see natural disasters erasing what has been penned, in the past. We see records of book burnings and other forms of destruction, where we lose what has been revealed. Some of this destruction is intentional, while some of it is not. Many times what has been written is lost during periods of war. It is as if it has all gone somewhere, perhaps into outer space, never to be seen again.

The bottom line is that there is wisdom that has become inaccessible to us, because it has gone or disappeared into some fathomless realm.

That is also a part of the output aspect of the tabula rasa.

The tabula rasa is not what one would refer to as some blankety-blank state of existence or non-existence for the human mind. Neither is there some kind of an empty air head that waits attempting to latch onto wisdom, that is floating by.

We hear the winds of time roar and know that wisdom is being scattered everywhere, all of the time.

We can attempt to plant seeds of wisdom, wait for the harvest, wondering who sows and who reaps the results, in the end. Hopefully, it is not the grim reaper.

Maybe the seeds of life have been planted, but it could also be seeds of death and destruction.

Hope springs eternal. Putting it all together, we can see one horse, one cart, one people in one world. There is only one tabula rasa, as well.

We can move into the realm of the what-ifs and ask these kinds of questions.

"What if wisdom was like dust?

What is the density of the wisdom dust that has been or is being scattered by the wind? Is there wisdom that comes as a powder or perhaps in some liquid form that has a measurable concentration? Maybe it is like pennies falling like raindrops from heaven? Can we pick them up with buckets?

In the realm of the what-ifs, one must suggest that we wear bejeangoes, when riding the white horse. Do not forget your Bible or your guns and ammunition, as you may need them to defend truth. But, in actual fact, truth requires no defense. It stands.

That is the dimino difference.

Another option for humankind is to lie prostrate, ie., do nothing but "wait upon the Lord and renew your strength." That may prove to be a good idea too, as God promises to meet our needs. Sometimes, when we try to do whatever, including capturing wisdom with human effort, we fail miserably.

There are a number of other possibilities.

Is tabula rasa revealing that which has been written only on the winds of time? Is that which is revealed, originating from the same source, as the Bible? Or, is some of it being discovered or found in the void, as well? This question can only be answered in accordance with one's perception of the source of truth.

Again, this takes us back to the school of what ifs, the academy or yearning and learning, based on hope or happenstance.

One might also ask if the tabula rasa is an actual slate that is material in some sense of the word or is it a slateless, non-materialistic, potential document?

Has it now become one that is made of paper? (Perhaps it has some Internet potential?) Is there something that is concrete or not concrete? Does it have some sort of curtailment factor or containment principle, that we are not aware of, at this moment?

I won't even begin to try to answer these contemporary questions about the tabula rasa. I only pen the word, as it is given to me and dance with diminoes. That is the essence of the dimino plot.

(1) Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, A Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield MA, 1983