He had a lifetime of extraordinary paranormal experiences, which showed him that there’s more to life than our culture allows for, but it was a dream that really woke him up. He set out reading alternative spiritual texts, studied shamanism and mysticism, and experimented with hallucinogens. What the dream showed him, and what he felt was validated in these other areas, was the fact that all is one and one is Love. He thought he had something unapparent to contribute to this notion, which felt new to him, so he wrote it out and asked me to look it over. His enthusiasm for his own words was genuine, but not completely conscious. It was clear that he wanted to be a spiritual teacher and this was his baby step in that direction.
I looked it over and had some issues with it. He said, essentially, that I was quibbling over the precision of language and assured that we were on the same page. Perhaps we were, but wasn’t this where things always went horribly awry? Wasn’t imprecise language where Truth got lost in translation? And have we not seen this song and dance before? In fact, always, throughout the ages?
This is an excellent example of jumping the gun because all of this amazing stuff is happening to you, within you, and so you think it must be leading somewhere, must conclude, somehow, with you doing something with what you’ve learned. All of that—the feeling like you were meant to speak it, to teach it, without even having a handle on the language you are speaking, is you controlling the situation. It is you getting something deeply true intellectually and emotionally, but not being that truth. To live it is to speak it precisely; the interval between you and Truth, which is time, creates confusion, which naturally comes out when one speaks.
Another thing. After all of his terrifying and glorious experiences, this man told me he no longer feared death. I asked him if he feared annihilation. Annihilation is actual death without continuation in another form, real or imagined. After a brief pause he admitted, yes. This honesty is a much more fruitful lesson than whatever one gleans from becoming another bargain-bin spiritual teacher.
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The question of precise language is one of clear-mindedness. it is one of consciousness. Tiokasin Ghosthorse is fond of saying, “You cannot wake up with the language that put you to sleep.” But can language, even precise language, wake you? To heart, yes. But not to the wholeness transcending and including heart. To be self-conscious as wholeness, one must stop speaking. One must stop listening to the external.
However, if one is unaware of all this, one may benefit from listening and speaking just long enough to get that even those with the best intentions are defensive—in fact, defenses—against annihilation. And so for that reason, language must be precise.
But also, for such a one who is Truth speaking Truth, there is no choice but to be exact. Anything less, no matter the enthusiasm, no matter the integrity in trying, is fumbling with ideas to avoid necessary annihilation.