We have arrived at an age when the specificity of our words is important. Now more than ever, it matters what we say. We get frustrated with having to say the right thing all the time. Political-correctness fatigue is real. We can forget to remember that the person we are speaking to is a human being with feelings and history and complicated reasons why they do the things they do. We are faced with so much when we face our neighbor.
It’s a challenge to see the sacred in another person when they smell bad or when they act strange or when they hurt us. It’s nearly impossible to commit to the idea that our worst enemies are equal to us in divinity. Because if there is divinity in the universe then there is divinity for all things equally. If there is none, then there is equally none.
Namaskar is a Sanskrit word that describes a traditional act of bowing to show respect. It’s when we put our hands together in front of our third eye or heart and bow towards someone. Namasté is a typical verbal greeting when performing the act of namaskar. So, the word namaskar means to bow, but namasté means I bow to you. All the world falls away and there is only you and I. And you are special. It’s showing. In this single moment, I revere all that you are and will be.
In church we sometimes exchange the word amen for namasté at the end of a prayer. But they are not interchangeable. Think of what namasté implies which is different from the word amen. Our current use of the word amen means ‘so be it’ or ‘may it be so.’ It’s an agreement with what the prayer has just said. It’s a wish that all which has been uttered before it either come true or already is true. But when we say namasté at the end of a prayer or a thought we are declaring something incredibly powerful.
Namasté and amen are actually related. First century Greek historian Plutarch tells us that ancient Egyptians used the expression ‘ammon’ when they would greet each other, as well as when they addressed the supreme god. The word ammon means ‘that which is concealed.’ And because they used it for both people as well as the divine, it indicates they were addressing that divinity which is concealed in us.
When we namasté at the end of a spoken thought in the place of amen we are declaring something about the speaker and listeners themselves, not just the words spoken or heard. When we say namasté at these moments we are saying thank you for existing. The divine spark in me honors and hears the divine spark in you. Amen.
Namasté says, I honor your existence. I honor your intellect. I do not have to agree with you to know that you are as special and as sacred as I am.
When we perform namaskar it is an act meant to be done with deep feeling and a surrendering of the mind. It is a meditation unto itself.
Namasté is a lifestyle choice. Because to exist in the state of it excludes criticism, judgement and pity. It gives permission for our better imagination to act on behalf of our usual tendency to assume the worst in people.
How many times have you reacted harshly to something someone did only to find out more of the story later and realize that had the shoe been on the other foot you might have behaved the same? What becomes of your judgement then? What might have become of it had you first remembered that they are special?
Sometimes we see people flying off the handle, freaking out, behaving disproportionately. There is no such thing as a disproportionate reaction, for the record. It is always proportional to something. We never know the history of what has brought someone to this moment. Allow compassion to fill in the blanks.
Namasté is a choice to read between the lines. To listen honestly. To engage with another human on the basis of an assumption that they are remarkable and utterly divine before they even open their mouth. And then holding on to that belief once they have. It’s a faith that everything they say is pure divinity, filtered through the difficulty of being human. But still very much divine. Allow even error and a lack of humility speak of the sacred to you.
Recognize your own specialness. Recognize the specialness of others. It will alter not only how you feel about the world, but along the human network through which we are all one, it will change how the network feels about you, too.
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