'Away with all discussions! as soon as words are spoken, demons
spring forth.' (Huang Po) To this we could add, 'As soon as those same words
are written down, those same demons multiply a thousand fold, and again,
for every century that passes.'
The value of any inspirational word, is
the depth of the thought,
and never, 'who said it?'
Words are clumsy things. It has been said that words can justify anything, this is not true, words are only words, they justify nothing. For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead.
Semantics are a swamp, a quagmire, pure quicksand; strictly for infantile minds and lawyers, let him who dares enter at his peril. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword, those who live by the letter of the word, shall die by the letter of the word, the tragic downfall of all religions.
Words should not be always taken literally. For example, in dealing with children there is a saying that 'You have to be cruel to be kind'. This does not mean that in order to teach children that you have to treat them 'cruelly', even though that's what it says.
The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words can be dispensed with. Chuang Tzu. (It is only an infantile mind that allows itself to get stuck in the dead letter of the word.)
It is the man that determines what is said; not the words. Thoreau.
The words that trigger comprehension are no longer important once comprehension is accessed......Starseed.
"Any translation is an interpretation.... for the language of one tradition does not provide exact verbal equivalents for all the creative ideas of another tradition."
Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.
Language is fossil poetry. For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer.
The sea-shore? sea seen from shore, shore seen from sea.??????
The difference between Alexander the Great, and Attilla the Hun, is in name only!
'Away with all discussions! as soon as words are spoken, demons
spring forth.' (Huang Po) To this we could add, 'As soon as those same words
are written down, those same demons multiply a thousand fold, and again,
for every century that passes.'
When Scripture speaks of God's arm, the literal sense is not that God has such a member, but only what is signified by this member, namely operative power.
It is considered a sign of dullness, when one can only see the literal aspect.
In all ages, souls out of time, extraordinary, prophetic, are born, who are rather related to the system of the world, than to their particular age and locality. These announce absolute truths, which, with whatever reverence received, are speedily dragged down into a savage interpretation. Old Realities needst must be, in new garments, clothed.
But it is the fault of our rhetoric that we cannot strongly state one fact without seeming to belie some other.
The quality of interpretation lies in the identity of the observer with
the observed. Like can only be known by like. It is my belief that
the men who translated the scriptures into the English language, however
well-intentioned, had only a partial understanding of what they were dealing
with. Add to that, that what we have today is a translation of several different translations,
from different cultures, centuries apart. The letter killeth, the Spirit
giveth Life. All is opinion
It is possible to be sincere, and be sincerely wrong.
All language, as such, is defeated when used as an instrument of portrayal of the transcendent. All language is grounded in the subject-object relationship, and so, at best, can only misrepresent transcendent consciousness when an effort is made express its' immediately given value. It cannot be correctly conveyed by any formulation or representation whatsoever!
Even to-day, it is considered a ground for complaint, if a man's writings admit of more than one interpretation.
We should be very careful about relying on words. Our prior beliefs always interprets a man's words.
It is all right to disagree! As long as you are not disagreeable about it.
If you want to communicate with a man from Japan, you have to speak in Japanese; if you want to communicate spiritual values to people with weak spiritual perceptions, you have to speak in weak spiritual language. Words used to attract the dull-witted should not be relied upon.
As a man can drink water from any side of a full cup, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose. --Bhagavad Gita
People only see what they are prepared to see.
Men bring what they have in themselves and see it reflected in the Scripture. Sri Aurobindo.
The word of Scripture is infallible; it is in the interpretation, the heart and reason put upon the Scripture, that error has her portion. Sri Aurobindo.
Written words can be a source of entanglement as well as of liberation; Unless the right person takes it at the right time, the elixir turns to poison. Please be careful. Torei Enji.
A word is not a crystal......... transparent and unchanging;
it is the skin of living thought and changes from day to day
as does the air around us.Oliver Wendell Holmes.
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