The Power of The Word
We find in the Bible the words:‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was God,’ and we also find that the word is light, and that when that light dawned the whole creation manifested.
These are not only religious verses; to the mystic or seer the deepest revelation is contained in them.
Here is a thought, which may be pondered over for years, each time with fresh inspiration. It teaches that the first sign of life that manifested was the audible expression or sound: that is the word. When we compare this interpretation with the Vedanta philosophy, we find that the two are identical. All down the ages the Yogis and seers of India have worshipped the WordGod, or Sound-God, and around that idea is centered all the mysticism of sound or utterance. Not alone among Hindus, but among the seers of the Semitic, the Hebraic races the great importance of the word was recognized. The sacred name, the sacred word, were always esteemed in the Jewish religion. Also in Islam, that great religion whose mysticism the West is only beginning to discover, one finds the doctrine of Ismahism which,translated,isthe‘doctrineofthemysticalword’.TheZoroastrians,whohadtheir religion given to them long before the time of Buddha or Christ, and who have lost many of their teachings through the changes of time and conditions, have yet always preserved the sacred words. Sanskrit is now considered a dead language –but in the Indian meditations called Yoga, Sanskrit words are still used because of the power of sound and vibration that is contained in them The deeper we dive into the mystery of life the more we find that its whole secret is hidden in what we call words.
All occult science, all mystical practices are based upon the science of word or sound. Man is a mystery in all aspects of his being, not only in mind and soul, but also in that organism which he calls his body. It is his body, of which the Sufis say that it is the temple of God. This is not a mere saying or belief, for if man studies his body from the mystical point of view, he will find it to be much more subtle and for-reaching, and much more capable of doing, understanding and feeling, than he believes it to be. There are faculties of the soul which express themselves through certain centers in the body of man. As there are parts of lands to which water never reaches –and therefore they never become fertile soil –so it is with these centers when the breath never reaches them. They are intuitive, they are full of peace and balance, they are the centers illumination, yet never have they been awakened, for man has breathed only in those parts of his body by which he can eat, and live, and perform action. He is only half alive, if his existence is compared with the fullness of life that can be obtained by spiritual development. It may be compared to living in a great town and not knowing that there are many beautiful things that one has never seen.
As there are many people who travel to distant hands and do not know their own country, so it is with man. He is interested in all that brings beauty and joy, and yet does not know the source of all such things in himself. Man breathes, but he does not breathe rightly. As the rain falls on the ground and matures little plants and makes the soil fertile, so the breath, the essence of all energy, falls as a rain on all parts of the body. This also happen in the case of the mind, but man cannot even perceive that part of the breath that quickens the mind; only that felt in the body is perceptible, and to the average man it is not even perceptible in the body. He knows nothing of it, except what appears in the form of inhalation and exhalation through the nostrils. It is this, alone which is generally meant when man speaks of breath. When we study the science of breath, the first thing we notice is that breath is audible; it is a word in itself, for what we cal a word is only a more pronounced utterance of breath fashioned by the mouth and tongue. In the capacity of the mouth breath becomes voice, andthereforetheoriginalconditionofawordisbreath.Thereforeifwesaid:‘First was the breath’,it would be the same as saying;‘In the beginning was the word'
We find in the Bible the words:‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was God,’ and we also find that the word is light, and that when that light dawned the whole creation manifested.
These are not only religious verses; to the mystic or seer the deepest revelation is contained in them.
Here is a thought, which may be pondered over for years, each time with fresh inspiration. It teaches that the first sign of life that manifested was the audible expression or sound: that is the word. When we compare this interpretation with the Vedanta philosophy, we find that the two are identical. All down the ages the Yogis and seers of India have worshipped the WordGod, or Sound-God, and around that idea is centered all the mysticism of sound or utterance. Not alone among Hindus, but among the seers of the Semitic, the Hebraic races the great importance of the word was recognized. The sacred name, the sacred word, were always esteemed in the Jewish religion. Also in Islam, that great religion whose mysticism the West is only beginning to discover, one finds the doctrine of Ismahism which,translated,isthe‘doctrineofthemysticalword’.TheZoroastrians,whohadtheir religion given to them long before the time of Buddha or Christ, and who have lost many of their teachings through the changes of time and conditions, have yet always preserved the sacred words. Sanskrit is now considered a dead language –but in the Indian meditations called Yoga, Sanskrit words are still used because of the power of sound and vibration that is contained in them The deeper we dive into the mystery of life the more we find that its whole secret is hidden in what we call words.
All occult science, all mystical practices are based upon the science of word or sound. Man is a mystery in all aspects of his being, not only in mind and soul, but also in that organism which he calls his body. It is his body, of which the Sufis say that it is the temple of God. This is not a mere saying or belief, for if man studies his body from the mystical point of view, he will find it to be much more subtle and for-reaching, and much more capable of doing, understanding and feeling, than he believes it to be. There are faculties of the soul which express themselves through certain centers in the body of man. As there are parts of lands to which water never reaches –and therefore they never become fertile soil –so it is with these centers when the breath never reaches them. They are intuitive, they are full of peace and balance, they are the centers illumination, yet never have they been awakened, for man has breathed only in those parts of his body by which he can eat, and live, and perform action. He is only half alive, if his existence is compared with the fullness of life that can be obtained by spiritual development. It may be compared to living in a great town and not knowing that there are many beautiful things that one has never seen.
As there are many people who travel to distant hands and do not know their own country, so it is with man. He is interested in all that brings beauty and joy, and yet does not know the source of all such things in himself. Man breathes, but he does not breathe rightly. As the rain falls on the ground and matures little plants and makes the soil fertile, so the breath, the essence of all energy, falls as a rain on all parts of the body. This also happen in the case of the mind, but man cannot even perceive that part of the breath that quickens the mind; only that felt in the body is perceptible, and to the average man it is not even perceptible in the body. He knows nothing of it, except what appears in the form of inhalation and exhalation through the nostrils. It is this, alone which is generally meant when man speaks of breath. When we study the science of breath, the first thing we notice is that breath is audible; it is a word in itself, for what we cal a word is only a more pronounced utterance of breath fashioned by the mouth and tongue. In the capacity of the mouth breath becomes voice, andthereforetheoriginalconditionofawordisbreath.Thereforeifwesaid:‘First was the breath’,it would be the same as saying;‘In the beginning was the word'
