Lost in Words and Definitions

It's fun to philosophize and to ponder over the mysteries of life — to query and examine all that we encounter. That is a natural human tendency. But we must remember that we can scrutinize, dissect, and analyze until we're blue in the face and still not get at the essence of what it is we're attempting to study. To understand the essence of an apple, you just simply bite into one.

If I may, I’d like to reprint part of an old blog entry of mine:

“Look, if you will, and you will find a superabundance of writings about spirituality, enlightenment, God, life, etc.; words uttered for the purpose of bringing about change.

My concern, however, is that we place far too much importance on words. We can sermonize endlessly on how living in the moment can bring about a sense of Oneness; but no words, no matter how eloquent, can deliver you to a state of Realization.

The problem with writing about spiritual matters is that there is no choice but to use words — and words fall woefully short when attempting to describe the True Self and what is here and now. Worse still, they can be an obstacle preventing us from seeing the Truth.

Language is a useful tool for conveying ideas and for trying to describe life and its components. Words break the world up into a collection of “things”, and even if you were to allow that they are a convenience (at least for the sake of communication) you still have to keep in mind that words are not that which they describe. You can’t get nourishment from the word apple, nor can you get spiritual nourishment from the “word” of God.

Can you see beyond words and thoughts? Who we really are is available for us to see at anytime but this world of words gets in the way. Words and thoughts cloud our perception of who we are and create an image of ourselves based on, in part; past experiences, what people tell us about ourselves, our jobs, our appearance, or our “station” in life: all definitions and all illusions. The real You is untouchable and cannot be defined. But there’s always that little voice in your head, insisting that the ego is the real deal. Shutting down that voice is easier said than done.”

A fellow blogger once chided me for using the word satori as a synonym for enlightenment. He also took issue with the fact that I described enlightenment as an experience.

I responded, "With regards to your differentiation of satori vs. enlightenment, I guess that depends on definitions. To me (and to many others) the two are synonymous. The last thing I want is to wrangle over words, but as I said before, language seems to be the issue.

I agree with you that “enlightenment” is not an experience in the same fashion that “wisdom” is not an experience. I was merely trying to point out that we all have moments which can be described as “experiences of enlightenment” (or satoris, if you wish)."

This person also tried to correct me about the definition of ego, citing Erich Fromm as some ultimate source. I replied that I wasn’t familiar with (nor was I concerned about) Fromm's definition of ego.

The whole point is that we should not be concerned with any words or definitions — regardless how lofty the source — when it comes to the True Self.

What we need to do is go beyond words to avoid any confusion.