We've crafted such elegant tools
Words which baffle the tongue
and weapons which tear tongues out.
We have so many words
as if tools in a box
But, if we fail to realize that the tool is the means and not the end,
as a map is the means to finding a destination,
we assume we've arrived at the destination by looking at our mass-produced maps
and by saying our mass-produced words
instead of by traversing the terrain and climbing the mountain
to look around for ourselves and craft our own maps.
Our maps must be
Unique to each one of us. Unique to our experiences.
No one can know your dogma;
sometimes not even you.
No one can find your way but you,
sometimes not even then.
No one can guide you on the inward journey but your mind,
sometimes not even that.
All we can do is give each other maps which have proven useful to us.
It takes the individual to take the steps of the journey.
Is it lamentable when the individual doesn't even realize there is a journey:
Life is the classroom in which the lesson is taught.
The lesson defies words: It is more subtle and elegant than we have tools to denote;
The territory is far too complex and constantly shifting to draw a definite, permanent map.
We must learn to draw our own map
to realize the limitations of our tools
to come to terms with the boundaries of our perceptions
Otherwise the maps are useless.
Otherwise our tools are useless.
Otherwise the lesson is useless.
Otherwise the beauty of reality is lost on us.
As a great friend and professor of mine always said:
"The map is not the territory."