#the om

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The Om  - Thebes

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The Om

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The Om

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Manatees: Living Proof That Mermaids Are Real And Beautiful

The mermaids in movies may not be real, but it doesn't mean the original mermaids don't exist. Bow down to the majesty of the manatee.

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Om, the sound of reality?

Buddhism arose in India when Hinduism was the big thing. Many of its concepts were taken from Hinduism and modified from it. We essentially filched a number of things from gods to symbols and ran away to the rest of Asia spreading mirthless cheer and blue men with rockin' staches who ride cows in Hell. One of these things we took was yoga and another of those was the Om. Now the Om is one of the holiest symbols in Hinduism. It is, to my limited understanding, the sound of the creation, continuation, and dissolution of all reality. So in other words it's God or Brahma.

Now Buddhism takes a variety of other different meanings for it instead. The Om has taken particular importance in Tibet and Burma though it also shows up in China and Nepal among other regions. I'm still not quite clear on the exact meanings and usages of the Om in Buddhism since it's a bit hard to find info on the subject for uses in sects other than Tibetan schools. At least one view holds that it is symbolizes the mind, body, and the Buddha's word. Another takes another view that involves realms of existence, including the unseen realms that we seek to pierce through and grasp clearly.

This is all rather interesting and confusing, but not entirely what I'm here to talk about. It's just background from what I'm here to talk about really. Now I do yoga as part of my meditation. During class we added on recitation of the Om. The general idea is to take a deep breath, as deep as you can manage, and then intone the Om for as long as you can.  Sound out all three morae for as long as you can manage. Then repeat this twice more. It's a sort of meditation on the sound.

But what makes this worthy of mention of babbling about the Om? Well. The strange way it makes me feel. Namely the Om has a very deep and profound feel to it. The sound is rather deep and back there, it's nasally too. Something about this has always given it a special sort of feel to it. A sort of strong "There is something to this" feel. When elongated the Om takes on a truly intriguing form. For a time I am surrounded in but that sound and the vibrations of it, the sound of them and the feeling of them in my mouth and stomach. It feels for the time like something truly grand and something truly large. Something that spirals on and on into itself. Even when it ends it merely rebirths itself in a seemingly endless cycle. It comes off as the sound of eternity itself.

The Om is certainly a special thing. Even if it isn't the sound of the universe itself or the words of the Buddha it's certainly a sound the resonates with humanity and touches something deep within it. It merits investigation I would think though the question remains in what ways to study it. Regardless the Om is a sound the rings true to humanity. It is the sound of us, one of the many.

[illshoothigher-blog]

midnight runner on We Heart It. http://weheartit.com/entry/2461287