Nooma 014|Breathe"With everything that we've got going on every day, how many of us ever think about our breathing, about the meaning of breathing? Yet, for thousands of years, people have understood that our physical breath is a picture of a deeper spiritual reality. In the Bible, the word for "breath" is the same as the word for "spirit." There's an inherent dilemma at the core of what makes us human. We've all been created in the image of God and possess immense power and strength. And at the same time our lives are incredibly vulnerable and fragile. Maybe if we had more insight into the meaning of breathing, we would better understand how God created us as human beings." NOOMAtube
One of the things that I really find fascinating about these NOOMA videos is the background that Rob Bell has in the Hebrew and Greek languages. The Bible was not originally written in English, it was written in Hebrew and when you go back and really break down the translations, you find some really cool things. Please watch the video above to fully understand the grasp of the translations in the Bible. I am really going to lean on quotes from Rob in this video that are all in all amazing ideas that were lost in translation.
Do you ever think about your breathing? The average person takes about 10 breaths per minute and from this breathing we should get 99% of our energy. However we only access about 10-20% of that energy because we are too distracted by other things and we become unaware of our breathing. In the book of Exodus we find the story of God speaking to Moses through the burning bush. "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Exodus 3:5-6.
"Moses has been walking this land for 40 years. I mean, it isn't as if the ground all of the sudden became holy. The ground didn't just change. It's that Moses becomes aware of it. Which raises the question for us, 'Are we standing on holy ground, all the time?' Passing burning bushes on the left and right, and because we're moving too fast and we're distracted, we miss them...Moses says to God, 'What is you name?' and God responds, 'Moses you tell them the LORD sent you.' Now this name, LORD, if you're reading it in an English translation of the Bible, the name is spelled capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. The name appears in the Bible over 6,000 times. But it wasn't originally written in the English language, it was written in the Hebrew language. And in Hebrew the name is essentially four letters. We would say Y, H, V, H. But in Hebrew, the letters are pronounced: 'Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh.' Some pronounce the name 'Yahweh' or 'Yahveh,' although in many traditions the name isn't even pronounced, because it's considered so sacred, so mysterious, so holy. In fact, the ancient rabbis believed that these letters actually functioned kind of as vowels in the Hebrew language. They believed that they were kind of breathing sounds and that ultimately the name is simply unpronounceable because the letters together are essentially the sound of breathing. Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh. Is the name of God the sound of breathing?...When you let God in, when you breathe, what happens is you become aware of all the things you need to leave behind, everything you need to let go of."
Rob goes on to talk about the paradox of a child's first breath and at death your last breath. With this idea above about the name of God being Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh when we first come into this world and we take our first breath we are saying the name of the Lord and declaring his greatness. And on our death bed when we take our last living breath, again we say the name of the Lord and declare his greatness. How cool of a thought is that? No matter whether you believed or not throughout your life, you came into it and you go out declaring the greatness of your creator!
"You are a sacred creation of God. The divine breath is flowing through you, and it's flowing through the person next to you and it's flowing through the person next to them. You are on holy ground. There is a holiness to the people around us and how you treat them. Jesus said that whatever you do for them, you've done for him. So may you come to see that God is here right now with us all of the time. May you come to see that the ground you are standing on is holy. And as you slow down, may you become aware that it is in 'Yod,' 'Heh,' 'Vav,' 'Heh' that we live and we move and we breathe." Rob Bell
Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!
Do you ever think about your breathing? The average person takes about 10 breaths per minute and from this breathing we should get 99% of our energy. However we only access about 10-20% of that energy because we are too distracted by other things and we become unaware of our breathing. In the book of Exodus we find the story of God speaking to Moses through the burning bush. "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Exodus 3:5-6.
"Moses has been walking this land for 40 years. I mean, it isn't as if the ground all of the sudden became holy. The ground didn't just change. It's that Moses becomes aware of it. Which raises the question for us, 'Are we standing on holy ground, all the time?' Passing burning bushes on the left and right, and because we're moving too fast and we're distracted, we miss them...Moses says to God, 'What is you name?' and God responds, 'Moses you tell them the LORD sent you.' Now this name, LORD, if you're reading it in an English translation of the Bible, the name is spelled capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. The name appears in the Bible over 6,000 times. But it wasn't originally written in the English language, it was written in the Hebrew language. And in Hebrew the name is essentially four letters. We would say Y, H, V, H. But in Hebrew, the letters are pronounced: 'Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh.' Some pronounce the name 'Yahweh' or 'Yahveh,' although in many traditions the name isn't even pronounced, because it's considered so sacred, so mysterious, so holy. In fact, the ancient rabbis believed that these letters actually functioned kind of as vowels in the Hebrew language. They believed that they were kind of breathing sounds and that ultimately the name is simply unpronounceable because the letters together are essentially the sound of breathing. Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh. Is the name of God the sound of breathing?...When you let God in, when you breathe, what happens is you become aware of all the things you need to leave behind, everything you need to let go of."
Rob goes on to talk about the paradox of a child's first breath and at death your last breath. With this idea above about the name of God being Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh when we first come into this world and we take our first breath we are saying the name of the Lord and declaring his greatness. And on our death bed when we take our last living breath, again we say the name of the Lord and declare his greatness. How cool of a thought is that? No matter whether you believed or not throughout your life, you came into it and you go out declaring the greatness of your creator!
"You are a sacred creation of God. The divine breath is flowing through you, and it's flowing through the person next to you and it's flowing through the person next to them. You are on holy ground. There is a holiness to the people around us and how you treat them. Jesus said that whatever you do for them, you've done for him. So may you come to see that God is here right now with us all of the time. May you come to see that the ground you are standing on is holy. And as you slow down, may you become aware that it is in 'Yod,' 'Heh,' 'Vav,' 'Heh' that we live and we move and we breathe." Rob Bell
Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!
No comments:
Post a Comment