On the Formalism

One of the corollary benefits of exclusively using the text as a witness to itself, of course, is concentrated focal strength. In the physics of light, when photons are wrangled from their wide, random dispersion into a single narrow channel, all their energy is amplified and concentrated onto itself over and over again to produce an intensely powerful beam of light. The properties of such a laser light beam are used to cut through dense material, perform chemical analysis, measure distances, and transmit information over great distances.

So it is with a concentrated, repeated focus on the text. Relieved of the dependency on secondary authorities, one can be taught to stay put, to be still and listen, perhaps for the first time. By reigning in the urge to hit and run on a text, to make hasty assumptions, and to borrow voices from countless passersby, one can return to the text again and again in calm anticipation of revelation. This process amplifies focal energy, cuts through the outer layers of material, processes the elements each layer contains, and crosses greater distances to the essential nature of the text.