The Map Of Enlightenment

What good is it for somebody else to be enlightened and to tell you what it’s like? Wouldn’t it just be better if you were enlightened too?

Well, yes, it would.

Until then, what is the real value of a scout bringing you a report on how the territory looks up ahead?

The value would be that you would know what to look for. You could anticipate and recognize the features of the territory as you came upon them.

But the scout’s report could never replace your own direct experience. Effectively, it would be the equivalent of a map.

A map is not the territory. You still need to visit the territory to really know it.

Or do you?

Answers From Silence says, “The truth will recognize itself. You are not learning the truth nor discovering the truth; you are remembering, when it resounds in you. You have the truth in you and it wakes up when it calls to itself and you experience it.”

Therefore, hearing the scout’s report does actually give you some degree of direct experience. It’s the glow that you feel when the words of the description sink into you, and you recognize the truth in them.

They point the direction to what lies ahead.

—JC