The Word is not the Thing

The description of a flower is not the flower. The photograph of a flower is not the flower. The word or picture is not the ‘thing’. When Krishnamurti uses words to describe or communicate something, these words are not the ‘thing’. When people listen to him or read his books, what they understand is not the ‘thing’ he tries to communicate. Verbal communication is partial and some kind of distortion occurs between what is communicated by him and what is understood by his read…ers. Is there another way of communicating- non verbal way- in which there is no distortion? -when understanding or realization is immediate, not through thinking? Such a communion happened when Gautam Buddha was talking with his 5 friends in Sarnath after his Enlightenment. When Buddha was speaking, he looked at the face of Kondanna and said-“Kondanna! You have got It!”