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To explain what the name of God has to do with a trojan horse, it is necessary to explain what a mantra is and what the name of God potentially can do to your being.
A mantra is simply a word or sentence repeated several times. The effect of the mantra is proportional to the number of times the mantra is repeated and the meaning of the words. If the words are meaningless the mantra has no effect.
Also the effect is higher the more convincingly the words are said. If one, with a mumbling and lazy voice says: I am good at dancing, I am good at dancing, I am good at.. hmmm... dancing, the effect is barely measurable. In order for the mantra to have an effect it must be said convincingly, and the more you can believe that it is already true the better it works. Positive self-suggestion it is called in the world of sports and on sales courses.
The mantra can also be given from outside, e.g. you are always so clumbsy. Which, if it is repeated often enough, can become: I am always so clumbsy... negative self-suggestion. And quite right, soon the person can not sit by the table without dropping most of the food. But what came first? The hen or the egg?
Different words also has a different effect. If for instance a child has a very strict mother or father, or a very strict teacher at school, their name will have a strong effect. The two sentences “donald duck is coming” and “father is coming” will have a very different effect on a child with a bad conscience and a very strict father... the latter sentence will sound like “FATHER IS COMING”.
Imagine now that a person in your surroundings without hesitation chops off your hand if you steal a bread and without hesitation stone people who commits adultery. Moreover the person is present in all your waking hours. After a very short period of time the name of this person will have a very powerfull effect on your mind. This was pretty much the situation for the Jews throughout many generations, where the always present person was YHWH, their God above all other gods.
The pronouncation of YHWH has been lost, but it was something like Jahve. The name Jahve had a very clear meaning for the individual Jew, a meaning that is difficult to express in another language, partly because Hebrew is a socalled “deep” language where a Hebrew word typically can be translated in many various ways. Not because the Jew has any doubts about the meaning of the words, but because Hebrew words covers more complex phenomena. Like Sanskrit is the holy language of the East, so is Hebrew the holy language of the West. The name Jahve means something like “I-am”, “I-am-who-I-am” or “I-will-be-who-I-will-be”. Hence, the meaning for the Jew is similar to what we understand by spontanity, pure being and unconstrained behaviour. We will use the translation “I-am” here, but remember that this is just one aspect of the meaning.
The name of God is frequently used in the Torah and as explained above the name stands out from the other text because Jahve has been present since the Jew was a little boy. E.g. we read in the book of Deuteronomy 1:19,
“Then, as I-AM our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which I-AM our God is giving us. See, I-AM your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as I-AM, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.... I-AM.... I-AM... I-AM... I-AM... I-AM...”
One must assume that the Jews who functioned as priests would read in the holy Torah several times a day. Get the picture?
Gods name in the Torah is the key that revoke the curse of “the black hole”. By using the name as a mantra, the priests were stimulated to get in touch with their true being; they incorporated through self-suggestion spontanity and unconstrained behaviour into their being. Devotion to the present moment – the now. This contact is not only contact to life and to joy, it also gives contact to God himself, to his plan for creation... and to his powers. |
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Part I: Page 8 of 10 |