Breath

Today I’d like to share with you something I read recently that transformed my idea of God. Again.

Meaning… every time I think I can grasp a bit of who God is I learn something that changes my understanding. I realize that most say God is never-changing… but I can tell you that my understanding of God is ever-changing.

An excerpt from Father Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (pp. 25 & 26)

I cannot emphasize enough the momentous importance of the Jewish revelation of the name of God. It puts the entire nature of our spirituality in correct context and, if it had been followed, could have freed us from much idolatry and arrogance… formally the word [Yahweh, YHVH, God] was not spoken at all, but breathed! Many are convinced that its correct pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation. The one thing we do every moment of our lives is therefore to speak the name of God. This makes it our first and our last word as we enter and leave the world.

For some years now, I have taught this to contemplative groups in many countries, and it changes peoples’ faith and prayer lives in substantial ways. I remind people that there is no Islamic, Christian, or Jewish way of breathing. There is no rich or poor way of breathing. The playing field is utterly leveled. The air of the earth is one and the same air, and this divine wind “blows where it will” (John 3:8) – which appears to be everywhere. No one and no religion can control this spirit.