Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see;While words serve as our medium for discussing our understanding of that which fully cannot be explained, they can only take us so far. It is when we confuse the word, Tao or God, for what it signifies, that we lose sight of the mystery.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
More words count less.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Too many words hasten failure
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
If you keep talking about it, it won't make any sense.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Words are like the platform for a diver. You stand on them to prepare for the jump into the water. Once you are ready, you must push away from them to experience the dive into the inner depths of your being in wordlessness.
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I've always liked a line from Rumi:
ReplyDelete"Language [words] is a tailor shop where nothing fits."
I very much like this post. There are somethings that cannot be explained...
ReplyDeleteI wrote once, in a play (note, this is a conversation between a writer and the spirit of the river which the writer has decided to sit next to as he writes about his surroundings- the water spirit is the one talking):
"Paper and water don't go well together, holy man. This is a secret place. You may stay only if you tell neither god nor mortal about this place. Words can ruin a place very quickly and can rob you of experiencing something. They are for afterwards, for pondering and remembering and you will have all the time in the world to write when you leave. But for now, holy man, set aside your pen and prayers and live!"
And the storyteller continues: "The man and the river spirit spent many days together, doing all of the things that one does to live life to the fullest in secret places. They spoke only to each other and never said a single word. They looked upon each other with eyes and soul and hands. And, even when the man returned to his home, he never wrote of what passed between them for the limitation of words was far too great."
:)