Tag: Signifier

The meanings of words are not absolute or fixed.
They are quite stretchable, and can range all the way from literal to the abstract.
Words are more like signifiers or pointers.
The meaning understood from a word depends upon the context/subject/frame/theme/topic and the vastness of scope.

You can point your finger towards a leaf in a tree,
But if the moon is in the same line, you may also be pointing at the moon.
Similarly, the range of the signified meaning is all the way from the immediate to its most far out abstract.

For instance, the word emptiness.
In the ordinary practical context, it would point to a meaning of there being no physical objects in a given space.
But in the metaphysical abstract context, it could mean emptiness of substance or essence (which is the truth of the entire manifest creation that appears to us).
Imo there is no contradiction in these 2 meanings derived from the same word,
Just like how your finger pointing to the moon could also be pointing at some other closer object like a tree leaf in the same line of sight.