It was just a casual conversation. I was paying attention, but it was not the kind of sharp awareness that focuses the attention to make sure I am ready for important stuff. That meant I was not alert enough to anticipate the question that came my way.
Indeed, it began innocently. “Can I ask you a question,” the person asked? “Sure,” I said naively. Usually the content matches the context. But in this case, it did not. The person asked, “Do you know about OM?” “A little,” I said. I did know a little bit about it. I know it comes out of the Hindu tradition and is also found in Buddhist circles.
The little I know is more than most Americans would know. But if I were in India, my ignorance would be remarkable! So I quickly shared a bit of the little that I knew. I said it was mostly associated with Hinduism. It is a symbol that points to the Holy. And that was sufficient to get me through the immediate situation.
And I decided I wanted to think some more about it. I have been in Hindu temples and Buddhist temples where that symbol is chanted. I say “chant” because it is so much more powerful than simply saying it. I never get that same feeling when I say the Lord’s Prayer or recite the Nicene Creed with a Christian group. Chanting OM is a powerful, moving experience.
Just because it comes from the Hindu world does not mean I summarily dismiss it. Because it might not make sense to many of us does not mean it is nonsense! It is a symbol to encounter the Holy. Saying this, I realize there are two steps in the functioning of this symbol.
The first step is knowing that OM is a symbol to encounter the Holy. This kind of knowing is intellectual. It might mean nothing more than knowing some chemical formulas that work. So I know that OM is a symbol for the Hindu Deity, Brahman. Brahman is the impersonal Deity of Hinduism. As one source puts it, “Brahman, in itself, is incomprehensible; so a symbol becomes mandatory to help us realize the Unknowable.”
To show how comprehensive this symbol is, Hindu scriptures acknowledge that "Om is the one eternal syllable of which all that exists is but the development. The past, the present, and the future are all included in this one sound, and all that exists beyond the three forms of time is also implied in it.” Many Hindus utter the sound when they arise in the morning. It is the basic sound of the world. To say OM is to say God---to point to the Holy One.
From experience I do know that when I say OM, there is a reverberation in my body that feels connecting. Because it is not my tradition, I cannot say it connects me to God. But I know it connects me to something deep. It is full-bodied. When folks corporately chant OM, there is a deep connecting of them and, well, God (in my language).
Paradoxically, to begin chanting OM---and holding that chant---takes me both very deep within and transcendent beyond my boundaries. It intensifies and expands. I know only two places in my normal experience when that intensity and expansion happen: with God and in love.
If I had my full wits, I would have taken my answer to the OM question in a fuller direction. But that is ok. When we are dealing with OM, we are in the eternal dimension! I’ve got time.
I don’t know that I will use OM in my own spirituality. But I also need a symbol to encounter the Holy One. What is mine? Will it be as effective? Will it intensify and expand me?
Indeed, it began innocently. “Can I ask you a question,” the person asked? “Sure,” I said naively. Usually the content matches the context. But in this case, it did not. The person asked, “Do you know about OM?” “A little,” I said. I did know a little bit about it. I know it comes out of the Hindu tradition and is also found in Buddhist circles.
The little I know is more than most Americans would know. But if I were in India, my ignorance would be remarkable! So I quickly shared a bit of the little that I knew. I said it was mostly associated with Hinduism. It is a symbol that points to the Holy. And that was sufficient to get me through the immediate situation.
And I decided I wanted to think some more about it. I have been in Hindu temples and Buddhist temples where that symbol is chanted. I say “chant” because it is so much more powerful than simply saying it. I never get that same feeling when I say the Lord’s Prayer or recite the Nicene Creed with a Christian group. Chanting OM is a powerful, moving experience.
Just because it comes from the Hindu world does not mean I summarily dismiss it. Because it might not make sense to many of us does not mean it is nonsense! It is a symbol to encounter the Holy. Saying this, I realize there are two steps in the functioning of this symbol.
The first step is knowing that OM is a symbol to encounter the Holy. This kind of knowing is intellectual. It might mean nothing more than knowing some chemical formulas that work. So I know that OM is a symbol for the Hindu Deity, Brahman. Brahman is the impersonal Deity of Hinduism. As one source puts it, “Brahman, in itself, is incomprehensible; so a symbol becomes mandatory to help us realize the Unknowable.”
To show how comprehensive this symbol is, Hindu scriptures acknowledge that "Om is the one eternal syllable of which all that exists is but the development. The past, the present, and the future are all included in this one sound, and all that exists beyond the three forms of time is also implied in it.” Many Hindus utter the sound when they arise in the morning. It is the basic sound of the world. To say OM is to say God---to point to the Holy One.
From experience I do know that when I say OM, there is a reverberation in my body that feels connecting. Because it is not my tradition, I cannot say it connects me to God. But I know it connects me to something deep. It is full-bodied. When folks corporately chant OM, there is a deep connecting of them and, well, God (in my language).
Paradoxically, to begin chanting OM---and holding that chant---takes me both very deep within and transcendent beyond my boundaries. It intensifies and expands. I know only two places in my normal experience when that intensity and expansion happen: with God and in love.
If I had my full wits, I would have taken my answer to the OM question in a fuller direction. But that is ok. When we are dealing with OM, we are in the eternal dimension! I’ve got time.
I don’t know that I will use OM in my own spirituality. But I also need a symbol to encounter the Holy One. What is mine? Will it be as effective? Will it intensify and expand me?
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