The One, the Son and The Holy Breath

My relatedness with contemporary Christianity is complex. My passion for the ancient languages in which original teachings were shared makes modern translations less than inspiring and some more than others. Today I consider the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The One
The Aramaic word that became "Father" in the famed Our Father is Abwoon. This word is a far more expansive word than Father and, in fact, may be characterized as ultimate expansiveness. The One Without a Second is my favorite interpretation. There is not much more that you can say...to even contemplate the One is to be in a state of duality. The individual "thinking" about the whole. That said, contemplation of Abwoon or the Father in the ancient sense (and in my opinion the way Jesus would have meant it) is a spiritual experience in itself. Try it. As a math teacher for a period of time I used to encourage students to contemplate infinity. Think of the biggest number, value or concept you can and then make it bigger and bigger and bigger...see what happens.

The Son
The second aspect of the trinity, the Son is typically personified as Jesus. How could it be interpreted from the standpoint of the Father being the One Without a Second? The Son may be more broadly looked upon as that which has been created from the One? In the ancient teaching of Advaita philosophy or the philosphy of Oneness from ancient Sanskrit, duality is a function of the mind. The same way the moon reflects the light of the sun, the Son is a reflection of the One. Unity is experienced through the filter and conditioning of the mind. When we achieve perfect concentration or single-pointed awareness, the glory of the One becomes known. I interpret Jesus to be a Master who was a perfect reflection of the Oneness of the Father God. He and the Father were One because he was able to transcend duality through spiritual practice and awareness.

The Holy Breath
The final aspect of the Trinity called the Holy Spirit is something I always interpret as the Holy Breath. The ancient word for "spirit" also meant light, breath and vibration. The Father is ultimate reality or Oneness and the Son is the manifestation or reflection of that unity it seems the third aspect would speak to the process through which that manifestation occurs and therefore, the process whereby we may experience the unmanifest Source nature. Contemplate the breath. If you are seeking to understand the nature of reality and of life then pay attention to your breath. Do you really think that with the elegance of the manifested Universe the Truth would be so hidden from view? So hidden that our only hope would be to put our faith into the words of men who have the arrogance to call them the Words of God? No offence to anyone but to hold up the modern-day bible and call it the Word of God is perhaps the most blatent form of blasphemy I can imagine. About the only thing we know unequivocally is that Jesus did not utter one word contained in the bible (actually, there may be two Aramaic words remaining in the entire bible so those are debatable).

The God I know, the indescribable elegance that birthed the Universe would not leave our salvation to the minds of men but rather would make it accessible to all and the path would be ultimately simple. Practice your faith...the ancient Aramaic word for faith meant, "a connection to life". Practice being aware of your breath and you will discover your connection to life, your faith and the grand simplicity of salvation will present itself to you. The Christ is here for you in the space between your thoughts extending perfect Peace and unconditional Love. What are you waiting for?

Steve

Yoga Myth #2: Yoga is a Religion

There is a popular myth that keeps people from realizing the great benefits of a regular yoga practice and it has to do with that "touchy" area of religion. It is amazing to me how quick people are to reject something in the name of Christ when such a profound part of the Christian message is to embrace. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali which are the foundation of yoga science states quite explicitly that the science of yoga is not to be aligned nor does it belong to any particular culture or religion. The Eight Limbs of Yoga lead the practitioner to a highly concentrated state of mind which becomes meditation and, once stabilized culminates in the direct experience of Oneness.

Yoga is Applied Spirituality

A regular yoga practice has the ability to deepen your faith experience in addition to the obvious physical benefits. My training in yoga has always emphasized a devotional element which is known as Bhakti Yoga. Regardless of your religious path, the practice and exercise of devotion plays a role. I find many people pay lip service to the "idea" of devotion but do not really take time to practice this ancient art. From my perspective, a big difference between religion and spirituality is practice and experience. Through yoga, we learn to concentrate on the object of our prayer. Regardless of how you practice prayer, concentration is a critical element. To sit and practice the rosary can be done mechanically while your mind is wandering or can be done with intense concentration and awareness that can catapult you into a deep and profound experience of Divine Love. Yoga is a tool that serves to deepen our faith regardless of how we define that faith.

I choose to describe the form of yoga I practice as "Beloved Yoga", this is because we are all entitled to an intimate and personal connection to our Beloved. Our regular yoga practice helps us cultivate that connection and deepen it. Another way to look at this word Beloved is as BE LOVED. We all need to take time during our day and our week to practice being loved unconditionally. Most of us attribute unconditional love to our religion and yet we don't practice experiencing unconditional love. This is the opportunity we have through yoga and meditation.

Yoga is not a religion. Yoga is a tool to deepen your experience of religion. Yoga is the science of cultivating stillness of mind and is the same path so eloquently articulated in the Psalms as...."Be still and know God".