Language, the Senses, and True Knowledge
Dear friends,
We all know how imprecise language is, and how hard it is for our words (and thoughts) to capture reality. The best we can do is an approximation. I heard a marvelous story recently on this point.
In the early days of AI being used for language translation, the programs were not as good as they are today. To test an early version, a programmer put in the Bible phrase, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The machine was asked to translate it into Russian.
The programmer did not know Russian, so he took the Russian sentence the machine had created, entered it, and asked the machine to translate it back into English. A good test. But what he got back was, "The vodka is good but the meat is terrible." :-)
Lest you think this whole newsletter is just an excuse to share this great story, let's look at a slightly different angle and deeper meaning of this...
Regarding the senses, we know that dogs can clearly hear things we are not even aware of. A dog's sense of smell is also infinitely more refined than ours. It is said an eagle can read a newspaper headline an entire mile away (though most eagles can't actually read, mind you!).
These animal senses are great, to be sure, but could never bring us the knowledge and awareness that we really want, no matter how acute. What would bring us the greatest fulfillment is to feel Spirit and a sense of connectedness to all that is. To do that we cannot use our senses, nor can we use the mind or language. No description, visual or verbal, can capture that ultimate reality. Instead we must develop a quiet heart so as to cultivate intuition. In the New Testament Jesus said to Peter at one point, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this truth to you, but my Father (Spirit) in heaven."
There is much around us that we cannot know. I have always been grateful that I can neither see nor feel all the wifi signals I am surrounded by at every moment. But there are some things we cannot sense are that are truly worth sensing. Just as a wine taster can refine and develop their sense of taste with practice and techniques, so too can we “taste” the wine of Spirit over time with well and joyfully applied effort.
May our hearts become still enough, and our minds and hearts receptive enough, that we can hear Spirit's gentle whispers and feel Spirit's love and compassion at all times. All things truly worth doing take practice, patience, and persistence.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West