The Word Before Words

[Near silence] "In the beginning... Was the Word." [Long pause] The Word. [Pause] Before... English? [Pause] Before... Greek? [Pause] Before... Hebrew? [Long silence] Before... A human mouth... Had ever... Spoken? [Very long pause] Then... What... Was the Word? [Soft distant drone appears] We hear... Word... And think... Language. Letters. Sounds. Something... Written... On a page. [Pause] But... "In the beginning..." There were... No pages. [Long silence] No alphabet. No dictionary. No human voice... To pronounce... A syllable. [Pause] Yet... The Word... Was. [Very long silence] So perhaps... Word... Is pointing... Toward something... Deeper... Than words. [Pause] John says... "All things... Were made... By him; And without him... Was not any thing made... That was made." [Long silence] Before creation... Had a name... Something... Was already... Expressing. [Pause] Before... Light... Was called... Light... There was... Light. [Pause] Before... Water... Was called... Water... There was... Water. [Pause] Before... Life... Was called... Life... There was... Life. [Very long silence] The names... Came later. [Pause] Reality... Came first. [Music slowly widens] Think about... Your own name. Before someone... Spoke it... You were... Already here. [Pause] The word... Did not... Create... What it named. [Long silence] So... Could we have... Made the same mistake... With God? [Pause] Could the word... God... Be a name... We learned... For something... That was already... Here? [Very long silence] Before... God... Was called... God... What... Was? [Long pause] Before... Spirit... Was called... Spirit... What... Was? [Pause] Before... I AM... Was spoken... What... Was Being? [Very long silence] Perhaps... Language... Doesn't contain... Reality. Perhaps... It points... Toward it. [Pause] A word... Is not... The thing. [Long silence] Say... Water. [Pause] Did your mouth... Become wet? [Pause] Say... Fire. [Pause] Did the room... Become warm? [Long silence] Then say... God. [Very long pause] What happened? [Silence] A thought? A picture? A memory? A belief? [Pause] Was that... God? [Long silence] Or was that... Something... The word... Awakened... In your mind? [Music becomes sparse] Maybe... This is why... Words... Can bring us... So close... And still... Never contain... What they describe. [Pause] Spirit. Life. Being. Awareness. God. [Long silence] Beautiful... Pointers. [Pause] But perhaps... Still... Pointers. [Very long silence] And John... Takes us... Before... All of them. [Pause] "In the beginning... Was..." [Long silence] Was. [Very long pause] Before... The explanation... Before... The doctrine... Before... The translation... Before... The name... Something... Was. [Music nearly disappears] And right now... Before you... Describe... This moment... Something... Is. [Long silence] Can you notice... What is... Before the mind... Turns it... Into words? [Very long silence] Don't answer. [Pause] Because the answer... Would be... Another word. [Extended silence] Instead... Listen... Behind... The words. [Long silence] What... Was the Word... Before... Words? [Two minutes of slowly dissolving ambience] Notice... What remains. [Silence]