A Translation of a Letter from an Obscure Artist to the World

A Note from the Translator

A dear friend of mine came across the following manuscript while moving into a new house. He found it in an old dark-room in an otherwise unfinished basement. Knowing that I am a linguist, he brought it to me in the hopes that it would prove to be of some interest. Indeed, this turned out to be the case; for, I found myself focusing on its translation, rather than my other responsibilities at the university, for the past year.

The author writes using a type of symbolic shorthand, which (to my knowledge) has appeared nowhere else. For example, the author uses two different symbols to represent “body,” the circle and horizontal line. The former is used to denote body together with consciousness, while the latter symbolizes body without consciousness.