Words may describe...

Words may describe a glass of water, yet they cannot quench ones thirst.

Words are just symbols that elicit a certain response in the perceivers mind. They are distinct from experience in that they are purely descriptive. Words are no replacement for actual sense-experience. They are a representation of that experience.

In this way, when we communicate to another person we are expressing that which that person already knows. The process of communication is a process of illumination whereby the speaker and listener reveal each others thoughts through words.

I often think that knowledge is akin to illumination. I believe that the moment of knowledge is no different from the realisation of something one has forgotten. We simply remember what we have forgotten, yet it appears new.

Learning Japanese is like that. At first, the characters are purely symbolic, pictures devoid of meaning. Yet with a little study, the meaning becomes linked to the symbol. When the character is seen, it’s like a light in one’s mind –“Ah I can read that” and knowledge is there.

Knowledge is light yet darkness is ignorance. Where there is light, there can be no darkness.