(Mother reads a note she wrote in connection with a quarrel at the Ashram’s handmade paper factory:)<\/i>
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The Employer to the Employee
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“Nothing lasting can be established without a basis of trust. And this trust must be mutual.
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“You must be convinced that it is not only my good that I am aiming at, but also yours. And on my side I must know and feel that you are here not merely to profit but also to serve.
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“The welfare of the whole is dependent on the welfare of each part, and the harmonious growth of the whole is dependent on the progress of every part.
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“If you feel you are exploited, then I too will feel you are seeking to exploit me. If you fear that you may be deceived, then I too will feel you are seeking to deceive me.
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“It is only in honesty, sincerity and trust that human society can progress.”
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It’s just the opposite of the Communist theory – all the Communists preach to them: “If you have the least trust in your employer, you are sure to be deceived and to become miserable; doubt, lack of trust and aggression must be the basis of your relationship.” It’s just the opposite of what I am saying.
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***
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Then Mother takes up the translation of a letter from English to French.<\/i>
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To translate I go to the place where things are crystallized and formulated. Nowadays my translations are not exactly an amalgamation, but they are under the influence of both languages: my English is a little French and my French is a little English – it’s a mixture of the two. And I see that from the standpoint of expression, it’s
rather beneficial, for a certain subtlety comes from it. I don’t “translate” at all, I never try to translate: I simply go back to the “place” where it came from, and instead of receiving this way (gesture above the head, like scales tipping to the right for French)<\/i> I receive that way (the scales tip to the left for English), <\/i>and I see that it doesn’t make much difference: the origin is a sort of amalgamation of the two languages. Perhaps it could give birth to a somewhat more supple form in both languages: a little more precise in English, a little more supple in French.<\/p>\n I don’t find our present language satisfactory. But I don’t find the other thing [Franglais] satisfactory either – it hasn’t been found yet.<\/i><\/p>\n It’s being worked out.<\/p>\n Each time, something in me grates a little.<\/i><\/p>\n It’s on the way. But it’s my method for Savitri, <\/i>too, it’s a long time since I stopped translating: I follow the thought up to a point, and then, instead of thinking this way (same gesture of tipping to the right),<\/i> I think that way (to the left), <\/i>that’s all. So it’s not pure English, not pure French either. Personally I would like it to be neither English nor French, to be something else! But for the moment, what words are to be used? … I clearly feel that to me, both in English and French (and maybe in other languages if I knew any), words have another meaning, a slightly unusual and far more PRECISE meaning than they do in languages as we know them – far more precise. Because, to me, a word means exactly a certain experience, and I clearly see that people understand quite differently; so I feel their understanding as something hazy and imprecise. Every word corresponds to an experience, to a particular vibration. I don’t say I have reached the satisfactory expression – it’s taking shape. And the method is always the same: I never translate – never, never – I go up above, to the place where one thinks beyond words, where one experiences the idea or the thought of a thing, or the movement or the feeling (whatever), and when it’s in a particular language, it goes like this (same gesture as before), <\/i> Page 87<\/font><\/p>\n over. I don’t translate on the same level at all, I never translate on the I have given up all hope of making myself understood. (Mother makes some remarks on the disciples’ “understanding,” then adds:)<\/i> Do you know the story? It’s a story told by the Muslims, I think (but I am not sure). Jesus is said to have raised people from the dead, made the dumb speak, restored sight to the blind … until he was brought an idiot to be made intelligent – and Jesus ran away! Afterwards, people asked him, “Why did you run away?” He answered, “I can do anything – except give intelligence to an idiot.” (laughter)<\/i> It was Th\u00e9on who told me the story. Page 88<\/font><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 18, 1964 (Mother reads a note she wrote in connection with a quarrel at the Ashram’s handmade paper factory:) The Employer to the Employee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-volume-05","wpcat-147-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nwhile in another language, it goes like that: it’s as if something up above
\ntipped
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\nlevel of languages. And sometimes, I notice that for me the quality of the words
\nis very different from what it is for others, very different.
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