On Monday's national show Thom spoke a little about last Saturday when he was in D.C. He gave some details in his latest article, "Join The Parade For We The People":
quote:
This weekend I was in Washington, DC. Prior to the antiwar protest, I went to interfaith service Saturday morning at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation and heard breathtaking sermons from Rev. Robert Hardies, Sister Carol Miller, Ms. Khalila Sabra, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rev. Graylan Hagler, and Bhante Suhita Dharma. My old friend Rabbi Michael Lerner (disclosure: I was on the advisory board of Tikkun for years) highlighted the gig with a rousing call to action in the streets, and he and I marched partway to the demonstration together.
One of the things he said on the show, which reminded me of something in the Prophet's Way, was:
quote:
But first of all, Rabbi Arthur Waskow he said, this was so cool, he said, "The tetragrammaton, the four letters that make up the unspeakable name of G-d in Judaism, JHWH or in English YHWH" he said, you know, "This is done without vowels". Of course, that's Koranic, but he said, "There's not supposed to be any vowels. It's not the big question about, you know, like, mistranslating it as Jehovah or something, adding vowels to it." He said, if you say it without the vowels, what you get is 'haaaaahhhh' 'haaaaahhhh'. The JH is the 'haaaaahhhh' and the WH is the 'haaaaahhhh'." He says, "The breath! The name of G_d is breath". and he said, "It's all living things. All living things are saying the name of G_d with each breath. We are breathing in what the trees are breathing out; the trees are breathing in what we are breathing out and all living things are saying the name of G_d with every breath." I thought that was such a profound statement. I mean, all day long I'm walking around noticing my breath and just thinking of that. It was just extraordinary. And so, anyhow, this marvelous service. The church was packed to the gills...
Sue N.
Posts: 4624 | Location: UK | Registered: 16 November 2004
Has anyone else ever participated in meditations where you concentrate on 'the breath' focussing on 'the breath' being 'All That Is'?
It was in Yoga classes I remember repeatedly focussing this way and occasionally in a few stolen moments I still meditate on the same but I didn't quite get it for myself, nor did I when I read this in The Prophet's Way - spending a couple of minutes trying to say the name of God under my breath (that sounds dreadfully blasphemous doesn't it).
It is only now dawning on me a profoundness in what it is coming to mean for me. It isn't so much about focussing the mind on the act of breathing as (being a bit creative with my choice of words...) breathing in and out Creation - becoming that breath.
I feel good (like I've been meditating) just realising it here...
Posts: 862 | Location: Upper Barron,Queensland, Australia | Registered: 24 November 2002
Yes. A favourite beginning of mine to any meditation is based on such and was taught to me by a Buddhist monk. It is basically a meditation on the breath and focussing on the subtle feeling in the nostrils of coolnesss on the inbreath and heat on the outbreath. Maintaining a focus on this for a while leads to a deeper relaxation. For me it's also a good point to get back to if thoughts are proving to be too overwhelming during a sitting and a place to begin again to settle and 'let go'.
I'm no expert in meditation but I think the breath is a foundation for many techniques.
When the world is run by fools it is the duty of intelligence to disobey
Posts: 1723 | Location: Perth, Australia | Registered: 02 August 2001
'The breath' starting as an effective tool for relaxation yet it can also become a vehicle for attaining that state where we 'let go' and become One.
Another wonderful gift this discussion has given me, I just googled tetragrammaton and breath. Among other sites reached one mentioning the transliteration is 'iao'.
'iao' being 'I, Thou, He' It sounds almost a prayer in a breath.
The source then explained the pronoun use in Hebrew of the sounds - one example was 'ani' meaning "my essence".
Ani is the name of my seven week old daughter. A name I chose from Tibetan Buddhism - Ani being what a Tibetan Nun is called.
Ani's middle name is Melea which was specifically chosen as a Hebrew word by my partner who chose the name from a Biblical name list as he likes the way Melea sounds (although in the Bible Melea was a descendant son of David). The Hitchcock Lexicon tells me in Hebrew this word is supply or supplied.
Ani Melea then, I just learned is "My essence supplied" or "My essence supply".
Now, I didn't expect to find this!
Posts: 862 | Location: Upper Barron,Queensland, Australia | Registered: 24 November 2002
It was not so noted in the Hawai'ian dictionary though I've heard it said that Aloha can mean "going in the breath of god".
In Chinese medicine, the sound 'chi' means air->breath->living air...
It could be that while breathing, the out breath makes a sound- ahh. To raise the head and look upward, the tongue falls making the sound- lah. There are some who put these sounds together making a sound of god when we look upward...?
Posts: 1 | Location: Colorado | Registered: 08 November 2007
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