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Here is an excerpt from Reflections ... THE WORD

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:14)

“I guess you just had to be there.” Have you ever found yourself concluding with such a remark after struggling to describe the indescribable? Whether it was an awe inspiring sunset on the beach, the broken light shimmering through the crimson leaves of an aspen tree in autumn, or simply a humorous anecdote, often times our words leave us wanting. They just aren’t adequate.

This happened with my lovely daughter and me just this past weekend. She was recounting a scene from a movie she’d recently seen and was laughing hysterically, almost to the point that she couldn’t speak. Of course I became amused as well just because she was laughing so hard, but I just wasn’t getting it. She was re-living an experience, while I was merely muddling my way through her words.

As powerful and useful as our words can be, at their best they serve as a means to an end. They simply are not a substitute for real life experience. The best we can hope for with our words is to remind others of an experience they’ve had themselves and evoke a personal response from that experience.

The reasons for this are quite simple. Experience is whole and complete, whereas words take reality and break it up into fragments. Experience is living and dynamic, whereas words are fixed and static. Experience is infinite and unbounded, while words are finite and limited. Trying to wholly describe the reality of life experience using words is a bit like trying to capture the ocean in a bucket.

We all seem to readily recognize and acknowledge this when it comes to day-to-day experiences, hence our familiarity with the common expression, “I guess you just had to be there.” That expression kind of sums it up for us, so we chuckle and say “ah yes, I know what you mean.”

Well, if our words cannot fully describe the beauty of rivers and sunsets and autumn leaves, if words are insufficient to even convey a humorous scene from a movie, then just imagine how utterly limited they are when it comes to matters of spirituality, the most abstract and ineffable of all human experience. But, quite unfortunately, it would seem that when it comes to the sacred, we sometimes have an inexplicable tendency to become extremely attached to the words themselves.

There is a powerful ancient saying that goes something like this – when the mystic points to the moon, all we see is the finger. And I’m sorry to say, it sometimes gets worse from there. We at times find ourselves and others arguing vehemently, judging, condemning, even killing one another in debate over the details regarding the shape, size, color, blemishes, indentations and subtleties of the finger, all the while ignoring the glorious, mysterious moon.

Whether our words of choice come from the Torah, the Quran, the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita or other isn’t particularly relevant. I suspect each of these sacred scriptures is trying mightily to point to the moon. Of course they each point with their own unique style and perspective. But while taking on different forms in different cultures at different times, using different words, the great Truths have remained constant throughout the ages.

When it comes to the sacred and ineffable, although our preferred words may differ, I suspect there’s something quite common in the experience itself. I suspect a mystic Hindu priest and an enlightened Catholic nun might share a unifying wisdom that transcends their cultural differences and religious traditions. I suspect Jesus and Buddha and Lao Tzu would find little to argue about.

The sacred spiritual scriptures are beautiful, poignant, and inspired. They are written by and about the most enlightened of the enlightened, the mystics, sages, prophets and messiahs. They can serve as a powerful means to awaken us, but only if we’re willing to look beyond the words themselves and personally experience the glory and mystery to which they point. As Lao Tzu says so poetically in the Tao Te Ching, the sage carries out the wordless teaching.

Imagine a music lover who spent his entire life studying sheet music, who knew every detailed nuance of how music was composed for every instrument in the orchestra, someone who understood how every note, half-note, quarter-note and eighth-note is defined, one who knew every key and scale ever used in the composition of music. But tragically this person went through his entire life and never listened to a symphony. She knew all the notes, but failed to experience the joy that comes only from hearing the music.

Imagine a great connoisseur of food, who knew all the recipes and studied all the menus of the great restaurants from around the world, but never enjoyed a gourmet meal.

These are images of what life is like when we become attached to our words and concepts and intellectual theories about spirituality. Perhaps you can add similar images of your own.

I’ll share with you from my own brief experience writing these simple reflections, that when writing about spirituality, I am certain that I cannot tell you anything you don’t already know. My deepest wish is simply that my words might awaken something within you to remind you of that which you already know, and perhaps serve as a catalyst for you to bring that Truth into your own experience. And the beauty of it is that at times, if you’re open to it, this might happen even if you disagree with my words!

One of the most powerful messages in Christianity is how necessary it is for the Word to become fulfilled through life experience. John speaks of this so vividly in the very opening of his eloquent and dramatic gospel. The first verse reads, In the beginning was the Word. He quickly comes to a crucial point in verse fourteen, which I used as the introduction for today’s reflection. In reference to Christ coming into the world, John says, The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

John is telling us that as beautiful and powerful as the word might be, it is ultimately insufficient for God himself to express and fulfill His reality in the world! His reality can only be fully known by experiencing Life in the flesh.

I guess He just had to be here.