On the Nature of Words, Part IV: In the Beginning

The search for a path through life

Ayaka panel with depiction of an Andhra stupa, Dhulikatta Great Stupa, Karimnagar district, Telangana. Early Satavahana, 1st century BCE, Limestone. Karimnagar Archaeology Museum

—From the Metropolitan Museum show, Tree and Serpent

This morning, after 24 hours of thinking about the question of words and meaning, a few other thoughts have occurred to me about the supposed inadequacy of words in the face of the Divine.

To accuse words of being inadequate in the face of the Divine beggars the question. Everything is inadequate in the face of the Divine; so why single out words as the things that fail the most?

Perhaps it isn't because the words can't do the job, but that we don't know how to use words properly — and, equally likely, that we don't actually understand words, and what they are. If we did, perhaps we’d put them to greater purpose, and in more intelligent ways than in using them to urge folks to destroy one another.