Jesus said the Kingdom of God does not come by expectation; it will not be here or there, for the Kingdom is spread across the earth and people do not see it. The Kingdom of God is within you. To discover the Kingdom we must change the way we see the world and the flesh. We must change ourselves. That, of course, is precisely what is accomplished by the hero's journey. Of that accomplishment, Campbell says:
The aim is not to see, but to realize that one is, that essence; then one is free to wander as that essence in the world. Furthermore: the world too is of that essence. The essence of oneself and the essence of the world: these two are one. Hence separateness, withdrawal, is no longer necessary. Wherever the hero may wander, whatever he may do, he is ever in the presence of his own essence--for he has the perfected eye to see. (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, page 386)
The vision of the unity and goodness of the world is born in our own private and collective intention to transform the way we see things, to honor one another's struggle for self-actualization, interpreting it as an adjunct of our own. It calls us to affirm the choice of life-style of everyone, seeing, in each, God's decision to experience the world, even when that style seems as alien to ours as homosexuality or prostitution.
"For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness," wrote Thomas Merton:
The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity, and despair. But it does not matter very much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds, and join in the general dance. (New Seeds of Contemplation, page 297)
-from http://www.tobyjohnson.com/sufidancing.html
Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hallelujah!, Wahe Guru!, Allah Hu!, Om Namah Shivaya!
Allah Hu - The best bloopers are here
from Wikipedia
Hallelujah, Halleluyah, or Alleluia, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word הַלְלוּיָהּ (Standard Halləluya, Tiberian Halləlûyāh) meaning "praise (הַלְּלוּ) Yah (יָהּ)". It is found mainly in the book of Psalms and has a similar pronunciation in many, but not all, languages. The word is used in Judaism as part of the Hallel prayers, and in Christian praise. It has been accepted into the English language.
Among many Christians, the expressions of Hallelujah and Praise the Lord are acceptable, spontaneous expressions of joy, thanksgiving and praise towards God, requiring no specific prompting or call or direction from those leading times of praise and singing.
In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hallal.[2] However, "hallelujah" means more than simply "praise Yah", as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise, to boast in God, or to act madly or foolishly.[3] The second part, Yah, is a shortened form of the name of God YHWH, sometimes rendered in English as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah". The Septuagint translates Yah as Kurios (the LORD). In Psalm 150:6 the Hebrew reads kol han'shamah t'hallel yah;[4] the final word "yah" is translated as "the LORD", or "YHWH". It appears in the Hebrew Bible as הללו~יה and הללו יה. In Psalm 148:1 the Hebrew says "הללו יה hallelu yah". It then says "hallelu eth-YHWH" as if using "yah" and "YHWH" interchangeably. The word "Yah" appears by itself as a divine name in poetry about 49 times in the Hebrew Bible (including hallelu yah), such as in Psalm 68:4-5 "who rides upon the deserts by his name Yah" and Exodus 15:2 "Yah is my strength and song". It also often appears at the end of Israelite theophoric names such as Isaiah "yeshayah(u), Yahweh is salvation" and Jeremiah "yirmeyah(u), Yahweh is exalted".
from BibleCode Digest
Everybody knows the Hebrew word that we pronounce in English as hallelujah. But do you know what it means? It simply means, "Praise God." So when you learn how to spell hallelujah in Hebrew, you will learn four Hebrew letters and will already enter in to the realm of praise and worship.
from Wikipedia
Allah, "God", is the Arabic cognate of the ancient Semitic name for God, El.
Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله) is an Arabic phrase meaning "Praise to God" or "All praise belongs to God," similar to the Hebrew phrase Halelu Yah. In everyday speech it simply means "Thank God!" It is used by Muslims and also by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians, but more frequently by Muslims due to centrality of this specific phrase within the texts of the Qur'an and the words of Muhammad.
However, its meaning and in-depth explanation has been the subject of much exegesis and explanation.
The phrase has three basic parts:
* Al - The
* Hamd-u - meaning "feel of gratefulness," as opposed to Shokr, meaning "uttering words of gratefullness".
* Li 'llah - preposition + noun Allah. Li is a preposition meaning, for, belonging to, etc. The word "Allah" is said to be derived of ilah -- the Arabic word for God.
It also means that anything in existence which is ascribed praise, thanks, glorification, or gratitude, is in fact only is able to achieve anything due to God's infinite mercy and grace.
Alhamdulillah: in theory, it is to be said with a profound sense of love, adoration, and awe of the power, glory, and mercy of God. In practice, however, its use is so widespread in Arabic-speaking countries that it might better be understood as meaning "thankfully" or "thank goodness". Not all Arabic speakers who use the phrase are praising God when they say it.
Allah Hu!
"In the rose garden the zephyr yearns for You
From the nightingaleís lips Your talk springs
In every hue Your majesty shines
From every flower, Your fragrance emanates
Neither will the roses last in the garden
Nor their perfumes dwell there
All these will perish for Your sake
You alone will stay
God, just He!
God, just He!
God, just He!
God, just He!" Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Language of God
"When God said Let there be Light, He said it in Hebrew," Schlomo pointed out. He went on to explain in great detail why Hebrew is the language of God.
When God 'said' Let there be Light, the language was not Hebrew.
Nor was it Sanskrit, Gurmukhi, Aramaic, Arabic, Latin, English or any other human language- even if the language is considered to be a 'sacred language.' The 'language' God spoke, and is still speaking right now in this moment, is so far beyond comprehension, much less articulation, that any claim that one's tribal language is the one true 'Language of God' is myopic, ignorant, divisive and leads to irreconcilable conflict.
When 'God' 'said' Let there be light, 'He' 'said' it with light, just like a painter says light with paint. Don't confuse the finger that is pointing at the sun with the sun itself. Sphere: Related Content
When God 'said' Let there be Light, the language was not Hebrew.
Nor was it Sanskrit, Gurmukhi, Aramaic, Arabic, Latin, English or any other human language- even if the language is considered to be a 'sacred language.' The 'language' God spoke, and is still speaking right now in this moment, is so far beyond comprehension, much less articulation, that any claim that one's tribal language is the one true 'Language of God' is myopic, ignorant, divisive and leads to irreconcilable conflict.
When 'God' 'said' Let there be light, 'He' 'said' it with light, just like a painter says light with paint. Don't confuse the finger that is pointing at the sun with the sun itself. Sphere: Related Content
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
