If you've ever tried sharing an experience you're having, you know it
can't be done. If you've ever tried saying everything that's going on
at any particular moment in time, you know it's impossible. It's not
because words aren't up to the task - it's not a matter of
representation. It's not because you can never be
accurate or detailed enough to convey all the
minutiae of what's happening - it's not a matter of description.
It's not even a matter of differentiating between what's really
happening, and what you make up is happening - it's not a
matter of
interpretation
The reason you can't share an experience you're having is because when
you're sharing an experience you're having, the experience you're
sharing is in the past so it's no longer the experience
you're having.
This is just how it is for us human beings. The moment of
NOW devolves into the past so fast, there's only accuracy
in sharing what was. There's only accuracy in sharing what's in
the past. There's no accuracy in sharing what's NOW. There's no
accuracy in sharing what's in the present.
That said, the accuracy in what was is made available
through speaking what happened, in other words through
language. In a very real sense, there is no "what
happened". There's only what you say happened. When all
of us have the same account of what happened, then there's
agreement which we call reality.
It's language which makes an experience real. There is no
"is real" ie there's no reality without language and agreement. There's
no real, shared, agreed on experience which happens
without language. In
Zen
we ask "If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear
it, does it make a sound?". We could also say "If you have an
experience and there's no one there to speak it with who agrees it
happened, is it real?".
Notice I said "if" in both cases. I intend to be
provocative. I intend for you to look at what you may not ordinarily
look at. This isn't a
business as
usual
inquiry. It's an inquiry which doesn't have any right answers.
It's an inquiry which if it
works
ie which if it reallyworks,
the answers you'll come up with are more questions.
If something happens, no matter how small or how large, no matter what
its scope, it's simply
what's so.
There's no experience of it, and there's no experience of the
reality of it until someone speaks it declaring something
happened, with which everyone agrees. Language with agreement
creates real experiences. Language carves out experience
from what happened. In other words, language distinguishes
experience from simply
what's so.