Holy Phrases

Transcript

This is a beautiful thought, this is how your life is already wonderful.

I was thinking about holy phrases.

I think I mentioned once there’s this YouTube channel where they ask Pakistani tribes people and expose them to things they have never seen before.

Like Junk food from the United States or Super Mario Brothers and you see what happens when they start to play the game, they say things like “Oh may God grant me direction and they begin to play.”

A lot of people in the comments even atheists say oh wow that’s so sweet, so genuine and they are moved by the sweet genuine nature of these people and the lovely faith they have.

Of course when offered dinner or new food like New York Cheesecake or something like that they say Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim.

I hope my arabic pronunciation is more or less correct. They say this is for God, for the most gracious the most merciful and they do this dutifully every time they accept a meal and I say this to myself sometimes now.

Recently just having learned the arabic or saying it to myself in English as I am about to take a meal. When I say a quick grace to myself it helps bless the meal like that with a sweet little phrase.

Even now when I am journaling sometimes I like to start with that phrase to set the intention of a wonderful exploration of ideas.

To try to guide my thoughts along that path is something that will be more productive, beautiful well expressed, true, honest to myself.

To try to get into that state of mind where I know things are right, true and correct. Where I know I am searching deep within myself for those things that can bring me on a better path.

We can do these things, the power of these words are within us. If we don’;t know the phrases we can simply invent them

We have within us the creative aspect, that inner poet, that can be allowed to express our deepest wishes.

Those wishes are there, the more we express them the more likely we are to feel them.

To be conscious of those deepest intentions. These holy phrases and holy intentions are not just words and not just whims, these are something deep within us. Something deeply spiritual.

Of course from the arabic speaking world they have other phrases used a lot like inshallah and mashallah.

Inshallah if you don’t know means if god wills it. If god wishes then that is what will happen. Some people use this well and some people take it in vain. Its kind of a cultural problem when people come into an arabic speaking country and they live there but are not muslims.

They come there as immigrants looking for work and they begin to use the phrase inshallah because its so important culturally.

So many people around the world use it even if they don’t speak arabic because its such an important phrase to muslims so it spreads all over the world.

The problem is when people start to use this in a different case or a different context when really what they are saying if a boss or colleague asks you to do something and you day inshallah like if only that would happen.

Or basically you say that is not going to happen and you release responsibility for that.

I wondered about that, I feel a little dirty even saying that word in that way but I wonder about that because sometimes of course these holy words can become something vulgar, even blasphemy.

When people say the words Jesus Christ or Oh my god, as if they are something casual and flippant.

I thought if it can go one way it can go another way.

If we have the impulse to say one of these words or phrases cause they’re so common in our culture, we can take it the other way and take it holy and pure.

If we can take the world Jesus Christ as an explanation we can actually pray to Jesus Christ or pray to God or call on that most potent most powerful beautiful part of ourselves.

When we say that we can remember and ask for help and ask for mercy in those situations that bring us surprise or dread.

Those things are always within our reach.

Mashallah is such a beautiful phrase meaning god has willed it. Say you get a new apartment or something and a friend comes over and looks at the apartment and he says mashallah, this is so great god has willed it.

The fact is god has created and willed everything we see, everything we see is a blessing.

If you choose to see it like that.

Mashallah, mashallah, these holy phrases available to us and so are the deeper states of being they imply when we use those holy phrases.