~ Words ~

what is the word? Is the word just what we speak? Is that the word? No, that is only the surface of the word.

Our thought is a word, our feeling is a word, our voice, our atmosphere is a word. There is a saying: 'What you are speaks louder than what you say'. This shows that even when man does not speak, his soul speaks. And, how do the fortune-tellers read the future? They hear it. They say that they read it from the lines of the hand, by astrology, or from the actions of men. But what is all this? It is all a word. Word means expression, expression in voice, in word, in form, in color, in line, in movement: all are united in one thing and that is the esoteric side of mysticism. Of course, many people in the West have said it is very difficult to lead a meditative life in the activity of their world; they have so many responsibilities and occupations. Answer to this is that, for every reason they need more meditation.


When the Prophet Muhammad, felt the need to communicate, he went away from the town and remained in solitude on the top of a mountain; sometimes fasting, sometimes standing, and staying there night and day for two or three days. What did he find in the end? He found that a voice began to speak to him, a voice in answer to his soul's cry. His soul so to speak went forth, pierced through all the planes of existence, and touched the source of all things. How did the answer come and in what form? The answer came from everything: from the wind, the water, the sphere, the air – everything bringing the same answer.

This experience is not limited to a certain person or to a certain time. In our everyday life there are times when sadness comes, and it seems as if everything in the world, even the voices of beasts and birds, cause sadness. Then again comes the hour of profound joy. At that time the sun helps to give joy, and clouds covering the sun also give joy. The cold, the heat, the friend, and the enemy, all help to give joy.


This world to a mystic is like a dome, a dome that re-echoes all that is spoken beneath it. What is spoken from the lips reaches only as far as the ears, but what is spoken from the heart reaches the heart. The word reaches as far as it can; and that depends from what source it has come and from what depth it has risen.


The word is the key to the mystery of the whole life, the mystery of all planes of existence. There is nothing that is not accomplished, there is nothing that is not achieved or known through the power of the word. Therefore the principal and central theme in esotericism or mysticism is the word.