Words Are Just Sounds
Words Are Just Sounds: Seeing Through Thought
January 15, 2025
teaching

Words Are Just Sounds

Las palabras son solo sonidos

A reflection on how the teacher's words serve only as reminders of what is already present, and how the real work lies in the gap between pointer and recognition.

Words Are Just Sounds

A reflection on how the teacher's words serve only as reminders of what is already present, and how the real work lies in the gap between pointer and recognition.

All the words you will be hearing today are just sounds. There is no profound meaning to anything spoken, other than this: it might help remind you of something.

Already here

What I point to, what I talk about, is something that is already here. Something that is already you. It is not about getting anywhere or changing in any way. All the words, all the sounds can point to something, but the meaning is not in the concepts. Anything learned from the concepts could be helpful, could be confusing, could be misleading.

Yet it can suddenly be seen. The words reveal it: this is it. What you are looking for is already here.

The gap between pointer and recognition

What matters is if, and only if, you recognize that this is it. You know and you see for yourself that what you are looking for is already here. In the gap between the words (the pointers) and your own recognition, that is where we explore, where we share, where we look.

So in your experience, you might bring this contrast.