There is so much talk about "being yourself" these days. It is an admirable notion, and well worth doing if you LIKE who you are.
I am all for being cool with who you are, without reservation, and free of self-condemnation. This is ideal. The problem is that YOU, the you that you look at in your mirror, the you that you are encouraged to "be," probably isn't really "you." The chances are, on a physical level, you have never really spent any time finding out who "you" really are.
You know, you could study the ingredients list of any candy bar...and memorize it word-for-word. At that point, you could rightly be considered an expert on this particular type of candy bar.
You would know every single thing that went into it, and how much of each additive. Perhaps you would have even visited the factory, and become intimately familiar with the manufacturing process.
Chinese Gamblers in a Fan Tan Gambling House, Macao, China. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Gather ’round, now, gather ’round. It’s time to place your bets. You there, yes, you . . . you look like a person with a hot hand. Get in here quick, and place your bet!
Oh, not a gambler, you say? Well, excuse me for my error; I took you for a member of the human race, and all humans are gamblers. What planet do you hail from?
Never mind . . . if you’re not gamblin’ . . . well, you’re not even alive in this world. To live here on earth you’ve got to be a gambler – a risk-taker – you’ve got to be willin’ to bet it all on yourself. Win or lose, it don’t matter.
Step aside, now, you’re in the way of the players.
Go over and lay down in that box over yonder. That’s where we put folks that ain’t alive, and you ain’t alive unless you’re taking a gamble, or risking something. Life is risk in these parts – you don’t get nothin’ without risk. Gamblers rule this world. You’re dead on the inside if you don’t spin the wheel . . . if you don’t take a gamble on your dreams.
You’re planet must be mind-numbingly boring. What you do up there? Just sit around and stare at each other?
No risks?
No change?
No gambling on a big dream?
No, you can have it. Dead folk like that ought not be in the way of the living. Now get away from here; we gotta’ roll the dice, and if we lose, we’ll get back up and try it again . . . and again . . . and again. And sooner or later, our persistence will pay off, and we will live our dream.
Not a gambler . . . geesh. People that won’t bet on themselves ain’t got no hope – no reason to be here. Stiff as a board and ready for the grave is what they are. Ain’t no way to live without risk – it’s not possible.
Steppin’ out in faith; that’s how you do it. Might get a bloody nose or two, and maybe spend a lot of time on your back . . . lookin’ up.
But the game’s got rules, and the rules say you can get back up as many times as you want. You can’t strike out; life has to keep giving you a pitch as long as you stand in the batter’s box. You keep standing in there and swinging and, odds are, you’ll knock one out of the park.
Well, it no longer scares me. My subtle, “esoteric” energy finally adjusted to the wavelength of the “juice” that it was emanating, and I can even wear it now with no uncomfortable side effects. Additionally, through it, I was led to be a seer of a new, Sanskrit mantra relating to the aspect of Deity that I had been working with. I would post a picture of the mala but . . . and this sounds a bit odd . . . I get the feeling that it doesn’t want to be photographed. Everything, I believe, has some level of consciousness, and that’s just what I am getting from it.
As with the mala, the first few days with the new mantra were very uncomfortable physically and mentally. There can be headaches, anxiety, and sometimes nausea or overall body pain.
This will almost always be the case when you begin a new mantra, (particularly if it is Sanskrit, as those vibrations are quite strong), or begin to work with some new item in your spiritual practice. The subtle, energy body that is you must adjust before it can comfortably work with new and higher vibrations.
So, anyway, if you have started a new practice in your spiritual life and are experiencing any of these “side-effects,” it’s OK. It might be a good idea to stop for the rest of the day, or take a day off of practice, to allow for the adjustment. You could trudge right on through, but be fore-warned; depending on the intensity of the vibration, it might be pretty unpleasant for a few days.
A coal "washer" located in Clay County in Eastern Kentucky. No longer in use. www (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The link below is one of the classic performances of all time, from 1956 . . . Tennessee Ernie Ford singing the Merle Travis classic, “Sixteen Tons.” In my opinion, it has never been done better. After the video link are the lyrics, printed in full.
I write all of this because nothing much has changed down in coal country. Yes, the pay is better, but it is still a rough road to travel. And if it weren’t for these people, you wouldn’t be using a microwave, or likely have electric lights, and probably not powering up a computer, either.
I do not agree with the raping of the environment that coal-mining entails – and yet I realize that I am fully invested in its continuance. And if the mining ceased, all of those miners would lose the means of feeding their families – and there are a LOT of miners, with big families.
So, most of us talk about the environment, all the while participating in its destruction. I only mention all of this to point out that everything isn’t black-and-white – the solutions are not simple, or clean, or without their own form of destruction. This song, and its lyrics, are tonight’s meditation. Maybe you have an answer.
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man’s made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said “Well, a-bless my soul”
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion
Cain’t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
If you see me comin’, better step aside
A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t a-get you
Then the left one will
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
A female African Bush Elephant in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania Français : Femelle éléphant africaine au Parc national de Mikumi, Tanzanie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Not a real, physical elephant. I would never do such a thing . . . the very idea sickens me. This is a metaphorical statement.
Right now, I am in the jungle. Deep, deep in the jungle, sweating like a pig in a spiritual tropical rainforest. It’s miserably uncomfortable – a time of sacrifice. And I’m here to “carve an elephant.” What does that mean?
The majestic elephant, symbolically, as a “totem” spirit, represents “Ancient Power.” That ancient, primordial, raw power is pressing upon me, but it has no focus, no form to enable it to be to be put to use. It is up to me to “carve the elephant.” That is: Forming, molding, creating the form by which the power can be transmitted.
Spiritually, I am sweating, and restless, and staggering through a jungle that is unforgiving and potentially dangerous. But I am not alone – I am guided by the power/vibration that is God . . . SOUND. Yes, sound; a subject that has hijacked this blog for the last three entries:
The “sound” is a mantra, given to me as the seer, and it is doing the “carving.” There is nothing comfortable about being carved upon – but the end result is worth the sacrifice.
That’s my story, and it ends with a question:
Are YOU willing to sacrifice to reach the Divinity, the God/Goddess energy that is waiting to be released from within you? Are you willing to walk through the jungle? The answer is very important to your life and future.
Repartition map of the languages over the world (version blank of key). See File:Languages world map.svg for full description. Esperanto: Mapo de la etendo de la lingvoj en la mondo (senpriskriba versio) Français : Carte de la répartition des langues dans le monde (version vierge de légende) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yeah, I didn’t know there was going to be a “Part III” either.
You see, there is this incredible,(insurmountable really), challenge in writing about this topic.
God is sound – but the words that we use to attempt to express this great, wondrous fact are poor, profane attempts to capture something that cannot be captured.
God, as sound, is of a purity that we cannot adequately express. To condense the sound that is God into words is to sully its pristine essence. To take the unmanifest, magical and profound vibration that is God, and attempt to place it within the boundary of our feeble human speech is a profanity; but it’s all we have.
The greatest experience of God as sound is in the hearing of a babbling brook, or the song of a bird, or the wind through the leaves, or a babies laugh – without comment. The moment that we make some vocal gesture to describe such things, we profane them.
God is sound . . . a sound that is heard in a place that lies much deeper than the ears, and cannot be articulated without bringing it down to a baser level.
Nevertheless, the sounds that we make, the words that we speak are still carriers of awesome power. How can you describe the sound of a babbling brook without causing it to lose all of its power? The feeling of the vibration of the water – its sound – is the experience of God as sound. You cannot describe the feeling of the sound in an effective way, anymore than you can describe the taste of an apple to someone who has never eaten one.
Nature holds the sound of God, and that sound becomes less – compromised – when we, no matter how poetically, attempt to describe it. The sound that is God is purest when it is unspoken; when you hear it on the inside, and the joy overflows.
But, we must speak of it, even though in so doing we diminish it.
GOD IS SOUND.
I am inadequate to convey this thought, this truth, but somehow, you must “get it;” and all that I have is my voice, and the written word. The mantras of the ancient Sanskrit language come closest to a pure expression of God – yet even they profane the truth when they are spoken.
They are unquestionably effective, but not the pure sound of God. We cannot form that sound with human effort. Despite that, what we DO have, as far removed as it is from the primordial sound that is God, can link us to the truth and cause changes in our lives.
God is sound . . . vibrations that are both heard and unheard, but felt. I do not know what else to say, but I pray that you will meditate upon this, and benefit from it.
There are questions that could be raised regarding the idea of God being sound, a few of which I hope to be able to expound upon to some degree.
The first is the thought that, why not “God Is Language?” That is a good question. Let’s say that you speak to me of God in French, and I do not speak French – therefore, I get nothing from what you are saying; the “sound” is useless to me. But that is a geographical hindrance, a cultural roadblock. The French language, though I do not speak it, is still SOUND.
If you ascribe to Christian scriptures, you will surely recall the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel. Essentially, God said that since they all spoke the same language and understood each other, there would be nothing that they could not do. A unity of language was too much power – it made ego-driven man too strong, so He “confused the tongues” to limit their power. Clearly, a mastery of sound, in this case as language,was the highest of powers. God is language, and language is built from sound. Taking it one step farther, sound is VIBRATION. That brings me to another point; non-verbal communication.
How is non-verbal communication “sound?” A heartfelt hug is a good example.
You “feel” it, and it feels wonderful, though no words are spoken. But a feeling is energy, and energy is a vibration, and a vibration is the foundation of sound. You are feeling an “unuttered” sound, an emotional vibration, and this sound/vibration is God.
And then there are sounds that have no definition in any language, and yet produce change, or feelings. Early man used such sounds, and there are many Sanskrit words that have no definition and yet produce physical results in mantra formulas. This is God energy . . . God is sound.
Now we go back another step. God isn’t “sound,” per se, but rather God is a vibration/energy that we have come to recognize as sound, and later developed into many diverse languages.
But, all-in-all, the best definition of God is SOUND.
Can you tell me of any experience that you have had that did not revolve around either an uttered or subtle vibration/sound? People that cannot speak or hear STILL have something going on in their brains, and you can be certain that it is a sound/vibration – an energy.
God is sound, and sound can heal. Be it encouraging words from a friend, a singing bowl of a certain frequency, a song, a mantra, an affirmation – sound expressed verbally, or sound expressed as a vibratory feeling conveyed through a silent, physical act.
I wrote this totally “off the cuff.” Probably not as well-written or formed as it could be. Maybe some grammar issues, too. So be it.
The famous Greek word logos — “word, speech, argument, ratio, etc.” — as SVG image. I don’t know if someone still needs such graphics in the times of Unicode, but if you like to use it here it is … (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
OK, I’m going to try this.
This message is ready, but I am not certain if tonight is the night that I am ready to write it. If it isn’t, I guess you won’t be reading it.
“God” is sound.
You can be certain that this is true. Were it not for sound, you would not have heard of any “God,” of any religion. Even if you could read the words, but did not have the ability to hear with your ears, you would still be hearing the sound, the vibrations and their meanings, in your head.
Christian scripture says as much. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Thousands of years before that was ever written, Sanskrit/Hindu writings said much the same thing. In a text some 8,000 or more years old, the Sata-patha Branmana, it is written that, “In the beginning was God through speech,” and he united with that speech and became pregnant, becoming the “progenitor of all beings.” The two scriptures couldn’t be much closer in what they are saying, though thousands of years separate them.
“God” is sound.
Affirmations produce results in keeping with their objective. Sanskrit mantras do likewise. Why do you suppose that is the case? Because God is the manifester, and that manifestation takes place through sound – vibrations, and the energy attached to the words – be they spoken or only thought.
Do you know “God?” Then you heard about that power through sound, words, spoken out loud or repeated in your head while reading a book.
Creation begins with sound. In science . . .The Big Bang. In Ancient eastern scriptures, through the vibration of the primordial “Om.” In Christianity, the Word made flesh, in the form of Jesus.
“God” is sound. Creation is sound.
YOU have the ability to form sound. Think about that. What has God given to you? Such immense power, usually ignored.
It is written in some places that God made man in His image. That means that you are a creator – you have that power. You speak the words, and you layer the vibrations of those words with your intent – that’s how Creation happens. That’s how God did it, and you are His likeness [As an aside, God isn't a "He," that power is ALL].
Sound creates . . .words create . . . unspoken words in the form of thought creates. What are you saying and thinking? What are you creating? You have been given the power, so who is responsible? Think about it.
Well, I got through it . . . a thumbnail sketch, anyway.
St. Nectan’s Glen Waterfalls, Cornwall, UK | A magical, mystical and sacred place (1 of 10) (Photo credit: ukgardenphotos)
The pain.
The cold.
The heat.
The challenges . . . the sacrifices.
What did you expect?
To know the truth, to truly be a part of the power of the Divine Mother, to be capable of wielding the powers of Mother Earth . . . what fool would say that this is an easy thing?
You have no strength, no power; and the sooner that you realize this, the sooner you shall fall to your knees in unbridled gratitude for the opportunity to be alive.
You are so much more than you think. You will not experience this knowledge through bitching and moaning. I grow weary of speaking of it . . . very few hear me anyway, so I often wonder what drives me. But it’s simple . . . it is my calling:
No sacrifice, no earnest seeking, no practice = NO POWER.
The energies are amazing, but they won’t show up in your life “just because.” And they will not cause you to be comfortable and warm when they arrive. The adjustment is painful, physically and mentally. Your energy will not rise without discomfort – the “cutting away” hurts.
If you overcome, and move forward, your skin will tingle and you will see things and learn things that are beyond your reasoning.
This suffering is not “holy;” it has no religious merit – but you will NOT come to know that which is the greatest part of you, the power that is magical and inexplicable, without it. It is the tool by which you peel away the bullshit that leads most lives.
I speak to no one, mostly, I know this. I know that my words fall upon deaf, (or no), ears, and there are plenty who would read this and consider me crazy. But I will not cease writing simply because there is no audience, or because someone thinks me a fool. There is power, and there is magic for those who truly want to know. I live in it, and know it . . . and if I can do so, then it is available to you as well.
Go and find a stone . . . or buy one that appeals to you. Then hold it, and sleep with it, and meditate with it in your hand until you hear its voice. It has one . . . as crazy as that sounds to the intellect. When you hear that voice, you have begun.
