Have you ever wondered why obscurity and Truth go hand in hand when it comes to articulating Truth? Like, we’re not even talkin’ the riddle nature of koans but simply trying to speak Truth, or speak about it from an authentic depth of experience, as opposed to a depth of knowledge. Shouldn’t clarity be… you know… clear?
Have you noticed that some people who have learned truths from reading or watching speeches can articulate their knowledge smoothly while others must search their memory banks for the right sentences to draw on, and how vastly different that tongue-tied-ness is from one who speaks about Truth from experience? The former stems from a lack of recall; the latter is a product of having to talk around Truth because Truth isn’t a thing. It’s the difference between talking around Truth, or No-Thing, which is consciousness, and speaking truisms, stammering through nothing, in convoluted language that indicates the speaker’s inauthenticity at worst, inability to retain what they’ve learned at best.
Have you noticed how the smooth talkers make you feel? Depending on your defense against your own fear of lack of understanding you may be properly cynical and see through the speaker as one who claims too much knowledge, has it all figured out, and is now selling you something—an answer. Or you may be accepting because what you want is clarity and you’ll try anything. This speaker is clear and he has an answer, so maybe he’s for real this time. This could be the one with the magic words that bring you to that next level, and if not, it’s all good. At least you’ve learned something. He’s added to your depth. Everything is a positive learning experience when you’re running from yourself in search of yourself or else you’d have to stop a minute and think about how insane you’ve become, how drunk on the toxins of expensive answers.
Truth spoken is not Truth, but the seed of it, which opens through the waters of proper listening. The seed germinates in understanding and flowers in and as you. For that to happen, there must be an air of mystery, something for the listener to engage within and find out for herself. This air of mystery is not created on purpose yet comes with purpose. It is an inherent aspect of speaking Truth. No matter how logical and precise the speaker is, there’s a question mark at the end of the sentence, blatant or implied.
So speaking Truth, orating it in riddle language, is giving life anew to those who know how to listen. It’s for them to grow as. It’s for them to be the flower. Not to be one who grows the flower in a pot and gives it away or sells it.
The perfume of Truth wafting you wafting Truth enters everyone’s nostrils within sniffing distance. Hopefully, you don’t stink. What really stinks is when you’re not the flower but a mass producer of potted plants. Then the words you use are not riddling but conforming to the insider language of people in agreement, a pack of liars who block out criticism and question and sound wise to one another. Actually, what they sound like is one another.
And that’s even better when you’re scared.