The Problem With Words - Ivan Granger

There's a real dilemma at the heart of religion and spiritual
endeavor.  The Eternal, the Whole cannot be adequately held
by such small containers as words.  Yet we humans are
instinctively communicators and word-makers.  What are the
sages and saints to do with their perceptions?  How do they
render the Eternal comprehensible to others and inspire new
seekers?  Describe the profound love and bliss and unity,
and we naturally name it Mother.  Convey the immensity and
power, we name it Father.  Or we say Beloved.  Or Friend.

All of these are valid ways to begin to form a notion of the
Eternal.  Through these words we as individuals can form a
relationship to this vast Reality.  And through this relationship
 we can be drawn into deeper awareness, into deeper opening,
and into our own direct encounter... at which point we realize
how inadequate all words are.

The problem arises when the mystics are no longer heard or
are relegated to history, when too few people have their own
direct wordless encounter.  Then we end up with entire
religions stuck at the level of words.  No matter how sacred
and truth-filled those words may be, words are always
incomplete.  Words alone are soon taken literally, and then
true knowledge is lost.  Not knowing what is real, religion
becomes embalmed, self-protective, sectarian, and sometimes
violent...

The wounds of religion are healed....through direct perception,
instead of forcing meaning....

Ivan Granger - Commentary
Poetry Chaikhana

~

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
the name that can be named is not the 
eternal Tao.

Lao Tzu

~

3D Art - Mystic Meandering