texts

Something that can easily be missed while reading religious or spiritual texts is the dimension of feeling underlying the messages.

The words can indicate truth, laying out the existential reality of things without mercy. But underneath that lies an intensity of feeling in the speaker or author that can't necessarily be read. It conveys the beauty in taking part in the act of creation despite its fleeting impermanence, the wonder of flowering for little reason other than to be and bloom for its own sake.

Words on their own are empty. They're vessels, carriers for the feeling and intent of the person communicating them. If we miss this and focus only on the words, we miss the point entirely. It becomes a logical discourse, ideas coming up against ideas. We might gain intellectual knowledge, more data for the mind to analyze and dissect and regurgitate, but the message underlying the words won't penetrate deep enough to catalyze a transformation.

Without this, only the ego is enhanced and nothing of true value is gained. Just more intellectual baggage.