I worry that we are too bound by language.
Now I understand the irony of using spoken word here to convey this thought,
But we have no other choice.
And here's where the real paradox comes in.
I think that all language is a finger pointing to the moon,
As in it is me saying,
Hey,
Here's some stuff that I'm thinking,
And I'm like,
It's over there.
And I'm communicating that to you,
But what you pick up isn't necessarily what I lay down.
That has tremendous consequences and implications if you consider it deeply.
Let's say I have in my mind utter,
Complete,
Total truth that will enlighten you.
I'm not saying I do,
But let's say I did,
Or you come across someone that claims to.
They have to convey that truth to you through the coded language,
Through the medium of words.
They say some stuff,
And you pick it up.
Then you decode it back into your own brain mush,
Right?
Embodied truth.
What's the chances that what they're saying or what they're meaning to say rather will be picked up by you in the same way?
Probably fairly minimal.
And the same problem we face when we are reading a holy text,
Whichever one,
Right?
It may well be the written word of a deity.
But we are not deities ourselves.
We are fallible humans.
We have limited graphs of concepts,
Of analogies of what the original author's intent meant.
Right?
We don't know.
So the problem with that is that if we are looking at these perfect words,
We are not perfect.
Therefore,
Our interpretation will be imperfect,
And also our interpretation will be different to those around us.
So we face this crux or this crucible where in order to get a teaching,
You must get it through words,
Right?
To get that depth.
But the problem is that the words can only point you over there.
It's like,
Hey,
Consider this.
Here is the truth.
There is a step that you have to take,
Right?
There is a step that you need to walk on your own.
It's like,
Hey,
I can show you the path.
You can lead the horse to water,
So to speak.
But there's an aspect that you need to go.
And I think this is where people talk about faith.
It's like that step beyond,
That step beyond the words,
Beyond the trust,
Beyond the things that are coming up intellectually.
Now,
You can talk about an embodied truth,
A interpersonal communication that isn't just the words spoken.
Now,
If you look at the research,
Something like 7% of meaning is communicated through words,
And the rest is body language and tone.
And indeed,
If I had written this out,
If I was speaking in a monotone voice,
It would be very confronting,
And it wouldn't make much sense.
It wouldn't leave much of an impact because I'm very boring.
If I was to speak and engage and connect with you like that,
The message would be lost.
Now,
The words would come across,
But there would be a lack of transmission.
So the other way you can look at receiving lessons,
Receiving spiritual teachings is to sort of engage with the guru's energy,
So to speak.
You see someone,
Some spiritual teacher,
Some holy person,
Some person that's just got charisma,
And just being in their presence opens you up.
Now,
It opens you up in a certain way,
And it moves you,
And it can change you,
But it doesn't fully communicate the message they're trying to say either.
It can change the emotional state.
That combined with words gets us closer,
But you're never quite there.
You can copy them.
With the words,
You can follow them,
But they're saying the words as an instruction.
They're saying the words as guidance.
It's still on you.
You are the master of your own inner space.
You know it better.
You have your own history,
Your own process,
Your own thinking patterns,
Your own genetics.
There is no one like you,
And even if there was,
They couldn't have lived your exact life,
Right?
So you know yourself better.
So we come at this from both ways,
An external funnel of information in,
And the external funnel of inquiry to the point of the moment,
To the point of now,
To you in this moment.
All of those things are fingers pointing to the moon of the truth that is you in this moment now,
To the truth that you're trying to discover,
To the point of whatever it is you're looking for.
There has to be a leap of faith,
A gap where you step beyond all of that,
And you reach the moon,
Right?
I would like to offer you a simple four-word phrase.
We've talked about it before,
But I'll mention it again.
I am here now.
I,
You,
Are here,
Wherever you are,
Now,
In this moment.
That is a basic mantra that I use.
It is a set of four words that I feel conceptualizes a truth that I could spend hours discussing.
Into four words.
And my hope is,
Is that I can communicate that to you and use it as a finger pointing to the moon.
I am here now.
For one minute,
Let's sit with the truth.
Let's sit with the word.
Let's sit with the concept of I am here now.
The finger pointing to the moon of my words,
The energy of the transmission that I'm trying to offer you.
And take it for your own message.
What do you get from this?
How does it sit in your body?
Where does it take you?
Go beyond the transmission.
Go beyond the words into your own truth.
Let's see what happens.
Closing down the eyes and just repeating in your mind as a mantra,
I am here now.
Okay.
So I encourage you to explore that concept of I am here now deeply.
You know,
There's the moon over there.
Go find it,
Right?
But more importantly,
I encourage you to explore this process of responding to truth that anyone is giving you as it's not the truth.
Whatever they're saying isn't the truth because your ability to receive it is flawed,
Just as their ability to communicate that truth is flawed too,
Right?
It's a flawed system.
So take it all with a grain of salt,
All as the finger pointing to the moon and consider that there's a space of truth that is resonant to you beyond it all.
I wish you luck.
I'll see you in the next session.
