Breath Wednesday, November 15, 2006 |
So I was watching the newest video in the Nooma series. Nooma, for those of you who don't know, is a video series that has so far featured Rob Bell. They are done extremely well and are great for the newest believer all the way to the seasoned deacon. Official Nooma product plug now completed. Right, breath. So this newest one was about breath or Pneuma (πνευμα). How about the fancy Greek in there for your intellectual stimulation. Anyway, Bell began to talk about the fact the pneuma means breath but also means spirit. They are the same word. Then presented the fact that breath could mean spirit, and what's more the spirit of God. Before I end up transcribing the whole video, I'll cut tot he chase. Perhaps our very breath is symbolically an intake of the Holy Spirit? What if it is a physical intake of the Holy Spirit?
He talked about YHWY which in original Hebrew was actually (Y) yodh (H) heh (V) vav (H) heh. The name consists of four vowels and is refered to as the Tetragrammaton (Archenemies of the Decepti-cons).-just kidding. Anyway Tetragrammaton means word with four letters... The Name of God is a four letter word...
These "vowels" which are not as we would consider vowels per se, form a word that the Ancient Rabis would consider to sound like breathing. Maybe our breath as we breath it is the name of God. He went on and said some things to this end, but the point is, breath is awesome. It equals life, and perhaps, it reveals God to us every second of everyday.
Think of it like this, maybe, and this is a maybe (Don't want to sound new age or something), the breath given to us by God is inherently spirit. Drenched in the Holiness of God, this spirit covers over much of what we do and say. Even the evil that spews forth from the mouth may have originated in Holy only to be corrupted by our sinful nature. Perhaps it guards us against evil's purest form. Perhaps the Bible meant for us to see the word pneuma as one meaning. Perhaps there is a place where each of our physical bodies connects with our spiritual ones. Maybe we don't ask God into our heart (simply because it is western cultures seat of emotions) but we actually ask Him deeper than emotion, into our lungs? Whatever the case may be, it is quite a fascinating subject for me right now. I am enjoying studying up on it. It is quite invigorating to get past all of the Sunday School jargon to reach something a little closer to the truth.
The first and most essential need to survive as a physical human being in air (breath). God in his infinite cleverness may have the same basic need for our spirit.
Who knows.