Spiritual Etymology

 

Spiritual Etymology

by Teak Kilmer

 

          Pythagoras discovered God through the amazing orderliness of the Universe proven in mathematics. An early proof for me is what lies hidden in language. One day I discovered (without cover, to reveal) the true essence of the word Universe (see description below) and thus began my quest to explore word origins and my elation at their once intended wonder.

Note how the ancients viewed the world, how spiritually they experienced it, how much more forgiving and beautiful their experience and how we have reduced the concepts of our religious and spiritual terms, made blessings into mundane and even sometimes punitive, fear, guilt-ridden and controlling concepts. One of these concepts is the concept of dogma.

One day, I looked at the word dogma, and it seemed to be struggling to get my attention. I had never had this happen before. I looked at the word carefully and diligently, and I realized that dogma spelled backwards is “Am God”; therefore, dogma is getting God backwards, or so it would seem. This is, I believe, no mistake or just a ‘cutsie’ observation. After many years of study and discernment I have discovered that there are seemingly no mistakes regarding language. Dogma applies to every religion; the same old testament and its dogma are shared by the three Abrahamic religions.

In antiquity, words/letters had several levels of meaning – not different from each other but metaphors of each other to allow for the several levels of existence. Each word, indeed, each letter, was used simultaneously at each level to remind us of what we essentially are (spiritual beings) first even while we are experiencing the distracting intensity of sensate humanity.

            Every letter of the Roman alphabet (the alphabet that we use) has at least one meaning that is Spiritual. That is a profound realization in and of itself.  

Think anew about what Jesus meant when he said, “Do this in my name”. What he truly said was, “Do this in my nature; do as I do; be as I am”! In the Aramaic, nature was the primary meaning of the same word that means name. This intimates, by my interpretation and that of scholars far more educated than I regarding this topic, that Jesus was saying, “Become as I am, and what I have taught you in order to be able to receive what you are praying for”.

 Jesus (according to the same principles as stated above) also very likely did not say, “I am the way, the truth and the life” nor did he likely say “Nobody comes to the father but by me”. He most likely said, “My way is the way, the truth and the life”, and he would have also likely said, “Nobody comes to the creator except by my way!”. These more likely interpretations change everything. This puts the responsibility on the supplicant to be in the greatest spiritual state possible rather than putting the responsibility solely on Jesus. Indeed, this changes the supplicant into a partnership with Jesus.

            Jesus spoke in Hebrew and an Aramaic dialect. These are metaphorical languages which cannot be translated accurately into a literal language such as Greek, Latin or English. Each word he spoke had several meanings and were more uplifting in their message in Aramaic or  Hebrew. There is one noble attempt at creating a more Aramaic translation of the Bible that is the Lamsa Bible by George Lamsa. See also Gospel Light by George Lamsa. See also the writings of Rocco Errico, Ph.D. and Neil Douglas-Klotz. These two authors have dedicated their adult lives to uncovering the true messages of Jesus, and their scholarship has changed the lives of those who read them, and for the better.  I invite you, the reader, to explore these authors as more hope, stronger faith and more joy, I believe, await you.

            In modern bibles there are many contradictions (see the book The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns: he delineates many examples of said contradictions), and metaphors, idioms and colloquialisms.  There is also no consideration of the context/culture in which Jesus lived which we cannot recreate. In addition, according to historical studies, the Bible has been changed many times over the millennia mainly to increase the Church’s power over the masses. There are no Bibles that were meant to be literally translated.

The following are some words to demonstrate the above statements. My principle sources for the words and letters below are from Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin, The Roots of English by Robert Claiborne, and several works of Catherine Ponder. I begin with the word heart, which is so astounding that I decided to begin with this. The words following heart could have also been explored in great detail, but none more than heart.

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            HEART ─ I noticed one day that within the word heart is the word hear, and within both is the word ear. When we truly hear, we hear from our hearts. I also noticed if you move the letter h to the end of the word heart, you get the word earth. Also, he means creator and art means any creation, any skill. (the creator and the creation make up the word heart, isn’t that great!)  I believe that the heart is a spiritual portal while we are here on earth.

The letter A is at the heart of the word heart. The letter A was originally inverted and represented the head of an ox, which symbolized prosperity, being blessed by God, and the horns symbolized reaching up to Spirit for their energy. The letter A was the original vowel sound and the original vowel. It’s the first vowel sound babies make (mama, dada, papa, gaga).

The letter E was originally positioned so that the letter E was lying on its back. The creators of the original alphabet were inspired by the letter A and positioned their arms like ox horns aimed into the air, so the letter E means “man in prayer”.

 The letter H represents the enclosure which in the word heart means; the portal of spirit in this life.

The letter R in the word heart means: the beginning, at the head of creation, balance and unity of opposites.

The letter T represents the void, alliance, the crux and path to perfection.

Can you imagine that all this meaning and intention are wrapped up in one, and probably most meaningful of all English words?!

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Pro-sperit-y ─ to be for or in the Spirit, to be hopeful, expectant; real prosperity emanates from being Spiritual  

Af-flu-ent ─ to be in vigorous flow, to be in Spiritual flow

A-bun-dant ─ to be flowing (on the wave), to be in Spiritual flow

Wealth ─ originally meant well-being  

De-serve ─ to be of service. When we serve, we receive. Service is its own reward.

Com(m)-uni-cation ─ (Com- with; uni-unite, cation-action) ─ the act of uniting with; therefore, all interaction spiritually compels by definition that those interacting (even oneself with oneself) must intend and succeed at uplifting the soul. Communication is not just an exchange of information

De-sire ─ of God, of the spirit, a yearning for the source; all desire ─ actually a longing to be in the Spiritual space, a place of higher consciousness

Re-ligion ─  from Latin religio, to bind back or bind with ..., to choose to be in the Spiritual space, a place of higher consciousness

            Re-pent ─ to see again; to choose to be in the Spiritual space, a place of higher consciousness

            At-one-ment ─ (Atonement) to be at one with (God); to choose to be in the Spiritual space, a place of higher consciousness

            Re-spire ─ to go back to the spirit; to choose to be in a place of higher consciousness

            In-spire ─  to take in the spirit, to breathe in. The baby’s first inhalation (the beginning of breathing) is believed to be this new being’s first independent connection with Spirit

            Ex-pire ─ to release or share the spirit, to breathe out. The last breath, always finishing with an exhalation, thus balancing the number of earth life’s inhalations with exhalations.

            Re-spir-ation ─ is, thereby, to repeat the process of taking in and releasing (sharing) spirit (or the spiritual). It is stated in many cultures and religions that “God” breathed and created the earth and mankind. 

            Uni-verse ─ (Uni – one, or of the one; verse – spinning or word or words) the one spinning, but also the word of the one, the word of “God” and, therefore, the manifestation of the word of Spirit.  When letters and early words were created, they were done so by spinning, Sufi like, to go into trances and thereby connect with spirit for direction as to how to create letters and words. 

           Peace – originally pronounced: pā-ah-kā. To fasten together; embrace; be tranquil, eagerness to give to all.

For-give ─ to give in, to surrender, to be in favor of giving. When you have forgiven so that you want to give to the object of your previous resentment, you have truly forgiven.

            For-get ─ to release, to drop where you can’t find it, and to be willing to receive, to be willing to get, and the best getting is in the best forgiving ─ the giving is its own reward.

            Weird ─ the art of being yourself. (See my full story of the discovery of the meaning of this word elsewhere in my blog. I’m teasing you so that you will read the remainder of my blog which I promise you will be a treat.)

            Silly ─ to be abundant, to be happy, so be weird and be silly.

            Abracadabra ─ to call on almighty God. It's from the Aramaic phrase avra kehdabra, meaning “I will create as I speak”. The source is three Hebrew words, ab (father), ben (son), and ruach acadosch (holy spirit). It's from the Chaldean abbada ke dabra, meaning “perish like the word”.

            Emotion ─ to disturb, Eckhart Tolle in his book The Power of Now iterates that love, peace and joy are not actually emotions but are natural states of being. A state we will be in when we are truly Spiritual.

            Dis-aster ─ to be without your star, to not be following your true nature. This came from astrology which was also practiced by the early Christian Church.

            Under-stand ─ to stand under (Spirit), seeking Spirit, to be in a Spiritual space

            Sub-stance ─ to stand under. See understand. We manifest by imploring Spirit, by being in a Spiritual space.

            Human ─ one who looks up, one who prays.

          Man ─ one with hands (manual, man-made, manufacture). The word man was not gender specific. It covered both male and female.

Woman ─ came from womb man, and came after the word man.

Female ─ is also a later derivative of the word male which represented both genders.

Wife ─ merely meant woman, so when the prelate uttered the words: “I now pronounce you man and wife”, it would have meant “I now pronounce you man and woman”. How cool is that, ladies and gals! The joke was on them.

            Beam ─ the light. “ I am the light of the world”, Jesus. Almost every near-death experience story tells of God being this incredible all encompassing extremely bright light that manifests only pure love.  Notice Be and Am make up the word beam, no coincidence, I’m sure.

Soul ─ Spirit in action.

Goodbye - meaning; God be with ye.

Vaya Con Dios - May God be with you. (Vaya Con Dios was a hit song from 1953)

          Adieu ─ to commend to a tremendous Spirit.

          Aloha - Hawaiian word used when greeting or parting from someone. Also means, love and fellowship

         Hello - a shout to attract attention. (Let's go with "Aloha" for a greeting)

        

          Discover – Without cover, so, to find something that has been present since the beginning.

Distress – without stress. Somehow we got distress’s meaning inside-out.

Discipline – why isn’t discipline the opposite of ‘apline’?

          Add ─ to give to; when we give to others we add to the goodness of the universe.

Vowel ─ To open. Consonant ─ To close. If you are a vocalist, you know the essentialness and import of these two facts more than any others.

         

            NAME has the same root as the word NATURE does, so our name is intended to reflect who we are; and though, in American culture, few know the meanings of their names, Spirit has influenced the parents to correctly, though usually unconsciously, name their offspring. This is strongly demonstrated through the astounding accuracy of Numerology. Pythagoras refined and expanded numerology and taught it in his schools that were named Universities (coined by him). University means the place where you go to learn about God. See the meaning of the word universe.  

           Word ─ “In the beginning was the word….”  In the beginning there was only one word, only one concept (Love/Goodness). Note how so many of even the few words listed above lead back to the original single concept; the Singularity (refer to the description of the word Universe).  

 World ─ The word word when the letter l is added becomes world, and the letter l means to manifest or make active. In the beginning was the word and the word became world.  

I call the Big Bang “God’s love making to the universe”. Vowels were (and still are) chants; each vowel had one sound and those chants are the sounds of memories of Spirit. The vowel “O” is in “OM” (hOMe), the sound of the singularity, the Single ecstasy. In almost every language in the world including Polynesian, transliterated Chinese and Japanese the vowel sounds are almost exclusively pronounced as follows: A is pronounced (chanted) ah, E is pronounced as a long A, I is pronounced E and O is pronounced OH, U is pronounced OO.

 There are now over one million words ─ in the American vernacular ─ how far away from Spirit can we get?!  How far away from the One Word are we going to go before we wake up?

Consider that English, now the world’s dominant language, has by far the most words, is the only language that requires a Thesaurus (the word set alone has one- and one-half pages of different meanings in the Oxford English Dictionary), allows almost any randomly chosen pronunciation of any vowel – mostly “uh” (definitely not a chant). The original vowel chant sounds are virtually missing altogether, though they remain intact in almost every other Indo-European language as well as in the Oriental and indigenous languages. Consider also that grammar and syntax are also in total chaos. We came from one word that had one sound, and the farther from that one word we stray, the more lost we are. Maybe that one word is the love that we feel when we are in a deep Spiritual experience such as dream, mediation, the power of Beethoven’s ninth symphony fourth movement, the joy of the birth of a child.

          Kind ─ comes from the word kind ─ we are more likely to be kind to our own kin, our own tribe members, our own church members, anybody who looks more like us, acts more like us, is more like us. It’s the birthplace of prejudice, and we must overcome our nature to overcome prejudice. It is a noble calling that must be achieved

          Humankind ─ I was in a bookstore in Cooperstown, New York and noticed on the spine of a hardcover book, and the title was Humankind, and I said to my wife, “that’s it. That’s why we are here, to be kind to one another”. We are the only species that has kind included in its description/name. This kindness starts with how we treat ourselves, how much spiritually we have healed. Otherwise, we are not equipped to be kind to others.

          Manifest ─ Man-i-fest: to celebrate Man.

          Cynic ─ From the Greek meaning One who questions authority, keeps the balance of power in place

          Creatures – Create-tures. Creatures means anything created. It does not apply strictly to other animals that are not humans.

Fanatic - a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause. God is not to be wild over. God is to be met in the grandest state of tranquility. Silence is it's other name.