I asked co-pilot to continue Parmenides famous poem. These are its attempts.

1: This one is unprompted other that it is given Peter Kingsley’s translation.

Listen carefully, young man, and I will tell you

the only two ways of inquiry that can be thought of.

The first, that Being is and that it is impossible for it not to be,

is the path of conviction, for truth accompanies it.

The second, that Being is not and that it must not be,

that is a path that none can learn of at all.

For you cannot know what is not-that is impossible-

nor utter it; for it is the same thing that can be thought

and that can be.

Therefore, I will hold back my thought from this way of inquiry

and will not let you speak of it either; for to do so

is to go astray from the path of truth. But come, follow me

and I will show you the remaining way, the one that mortals

know nothing of, wandering along two-headed; for helplessness

guides the wandering thought in their breasts, so that they are borne

along stupefied like men deaf and blind. Undiscerning crowds,

who hold that it is and is not the same and not the same,

and all things travel in opposite directions!

For this reason, neither their eyes nor their ears nor their minds

are fit to test anything reliably. But you, by contrast, must learn

all things, both the unshaken heart of persuasive truth

and the opinions of mortals, in which there is no true belief at all.

Yet you will learn these too-how the things that seem

must seem to be, all pervading their whole order.”

2: This one is prompted to bear in mind Peter Kingsley’s and Thomas Rickert’s interpretation based on katabasis. It goes a bit crazy with the ‘it is not’s which was interesting.

And as I followed her along the sacred road

that traverses all things, I was seized by a great wonder.

For I beheld in that dark realm the forms of all that is,

both what has been and what will be, shining with a strange light.

And the goddess spoke to me again, with a voice like honey:

“Behold, young man, the secrets of the House of Night,

where all things are hidden from the eyes of mortals.

Here you will see the roots of Being, the source of all power,

the origin of all order. For this is the place where the One

dwells, the One who is and who rules over all.

The One is not like anything that you have seen or thought before.

It is not a thing among things, nor a god among gods.

It is not a word that can be spoken, nor a name that can be given.

It is not a subject that can be known, nor an object that can be grasped.

It is not a part that can be divided, nor a whole that can be composed.

It is not a cause that can be effected, nor an effect that can be caused.

It is not a beginning that can be ended, nor an end that can be begun.

It is not a motion that can be stopped, nor a rest that can be moved.

It is not a change that can be altered, nor a permanence that can be changed.

It is not a quality that can be measured, nor a quantity that can be qualified.

It is not a relation that can be compared, nor a comparison that can be related.

It is not a difference that can be distinguished, nor a distinction that can be differentiated.

It is not a multiplicity that can be unified, nor a unity that can be multiplied.

It is not a time that can be past, present, or future, nor a space that can be here, there, or anywhere.

It is not a matter that can be formed, nor a form that can be materialized.

It is not a mind that can be thought, nor a thought that can be minded.

It is not a sense that can be perceived, nor a perception that can be sensed.

It is not a feeling that can be felt, nor a feeling that can be felt.

It is not a will that can be willed, nor a willing that can be willed.

It is not a life that can be lived, nor a living that can be life.

It is not a death that can be died, nor a dying that can be death.

It is not a light that can be seen, nor a darkness that can be hidden.

It is not a sound that can be heard, nor a silence that can be broken.

It is not a word that can be said, nor a silence that can be spoken.

It is not a love that can be loved, nor a hate that can be hated.

It is not a good that can be good, nor an evil that can be evil.

It is not a beauty that can be beautiful, nor an ugliness that can be ugly.

It is not a truth that can be true, nor a falsehood that can be false.

It is not a knowledge that can be known, nor an ignorance that can be ignorant.

It is not a wisdom that can be wise, nor a folly that can be foolish.

It is not a being that can be, nor a non-being that can not be.

It is the One, beyond being and non-being, beyond all words and thoughts,

beyond all forms and senses, beyond all qualities and quantities,

beyond all relations and distinctions, beyond all times and spaces,

beyond all causes and effects, beyond all parts and wholes,

beyond all motions and rests, beyond all changes and permanences,

beyond all lights and darknesses, beyond all sounds and silences,

beyond all loves and hates, beyond all goods and evils,

beyond all beauties and uglinesses, beyond all truths and falsehoods,

beyond all knowledges and ignorances, beyond all wisdoms and follies,

beyond all beings and non-beings. It is the One, the only One,

the One who is and who rules over all.”

3: Now it was asked to be less repetitive but stick closer to the dactylic-hexameter.

And then she showed me the hidden ways of the House of Night,

where all things are kept in balance by the power of the One.

She taught me how to see beyond the veil of appearance,

how to pierce the surface of the world and reach its core.

She taught me how to hear the silent voice of the One,

how to tune my mind to the harmony of the spheres.

She taught me how to touch the essence of the One,

how to feel its presence in my heart and in my soul.

She taught me how to taste the sweetness of the One,

how to savor its nectar in my mouth and in my blood.

She taught me how to smell the fragrance of the One,

how to breathe its perfume in my nose and in my lungs.

She taught me how to know the truth of the One,

how to grasp its wisdom in my thoughts and in my words.

She taught me how to love the beauty of the One,

how to adore its splendor in my eyes and in my deeds.

She taught me how to be the image of the One,

how to reflect its glory in my face and in my life.

4: Lastly it was urged to not be so obssessed with Parmenides being a monist, at which point it seemed to forget the Kingsley interest.

And then she urged me to use my reason well

and to judge by the standard of what-is alone.

She warned me not to trust the senses of the body,

nor to follow the opinions of the crowd.

She told me that the way of truth is hard and steep,

but the only one that leads to knowledge and to bliss.

She told me that the way of opinion is easy and smooth,

but the only one that leads to ignorance and to woe.

She told me that the way of truth reveals what-is as it is,

but the way of opinion conceals what-is as it is not.

She told me that the way of truth shows what-is as unchanging and complete,

but the way of opinion shows what-is as changing and incomplete.

She told me that the way of truth affirms what-is as necessary and eternal,

but the way of opinion denies what-is as contingent and temporal.

She told me that the way of truth admits what-is as intelligible and coherent,

but the way of opinion rejects what-is as unintelligible and incoherent.

She told me that the way of truth respects what-is as unique and incomparable,

but the way of opinion despises what-is as common and comparable.

She told me that the way of truth loves what-is as beautiful and good,

but the way of opinion hates what-is as ugly and bad.

She told me that the way of truth is the way of the One who is,

but the way of opinion is the way of the many who are not.