Om
Om!
From Wikipedia:
OM is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Dharmic [i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, and other closely related] religions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred exclamation to be uttered at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or previously to any prayer or mantra.
Wikipedia also compares Om to Amen; in this connection it’s interesting to add also the Revival Druid exhortation Awen.
It first appears in ancient Vedic Sanskrit manuscripts, meaning something like “yes”, “verily”, “so be it” — much like Amen. As time went on and Hinduism developed, it came to mean something much more profound. It is variously described as
- a magnificent syllable for meditation
- the goal of all spritual practice
- the utterance of the perfect soul at death
- the voice of God
- the mystic name of the union of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma
- the principle of three-in-one
- the sound of the universe’s vibration
According to phonosemantics, Om has no beginning (no first sound); its process is “the most fundamental sound, the source and beginning of all things” (the “short o”), and the result is manifestation (”m”). The word Amen, from Hebrew for “truth”, has the same primary syllable, and thus has the same core meaning. The second syllable (”en”) may indicate that the manifestation passes into sustained energy (”e”) and resolves into thought, wisdom, and nobility. (How about that! The whole history of the universe in one word!) Druidic Awen, which is used religiously in much the same way, is derived from Welsh and originally referred to the divine inspiration of bards (the “fire in the head”); phonosemantically it is identical to Amen, except that instead of the “m” of manifestation, it has “w”, meaning free will.
All in all, Om seemed an appropriate word with which to kick off the new blog. Welcome!
