Namaste

There’s something different about us humans. Something that sets us apart from the rest of Creation. People over the years have struggled to work out what it is and striven without success to find the missing link. We are different from the animals. Some would say we have a soul, a conscience, a social concern, free will….whatever it is, we are set apart.

This difference is reflected in the Creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2.

Then God said ‘Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness……’

Genesis 1:26

We are made in God’s image! Do we all look like Him then? Or reflect His personality? Or contain the essence of God in our souls? How can that possibly be? We are all so different – how can we all possibly be made in God’s image?

I like to think of every individual who has ever lived and every individual who is to come as being a facet of an enormous diamond. Each one is different and reflects the light at different times in different ways but as a whole, they create the most precious, beautiful diamond – which is God. Each one has a different role to play. Each one is completely unique. Each one has to be themselves and not try to be someone else. Each one shows the world a slightly different facet of God’s nature to the next.

The creation of  humankind is also different because of this –

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

The breath of life. There’s that word again – ruach. Breath, wind, power, spirit……Every living thing can breathe. Without breath, it dies. Maybe this is more than that. Maybe God breathes His spirit into humankind so that living as fully human becomes more than just breathing. Maybe fully living is more than just existing, going through the motions of staying alive. Maybe there is more to life than that.

Maybe being fully human is about recognising that creative divine energy in every breath that we take, in making every second count, in being the best facet of the diamond that we can possibly be.

Which brings me to Namaste. I am carrying something of the divine inside of me. If this is true of me, then it is true of you. If it’s true of you, then it’s true of everyone…including that awkward customer, that annoying work colleague, that frustrating teenager, that grumpy old woman in the chip shop and that man with a body odour issue you are sitting next to on the bus. We all keep it well buried at times, but the divine is in there somewhere. Some might keep it hidden for days on end and then we suddenly get a flash of something truly kind and compassionate or brilliantly beautiful and think ‘Yes, that was it. That was special. That was the divine in you shining through.’

Namaste is a customary greeting commonly found among the people of South Asia and some Southeast Asian countries, used when saying hello or goodbye. Namaste is spoken with a slight bow and hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close to the chest. In Hinduism it means ‘I bow to the divine in you.’

My yoga teacher uses this greeting to signal the end of the session. She says it means ‘the divine in me bows to the divine in you.’ Recognising the divine in ourselves is hard. Recognising the divine is others is even harder. Imagine how different the world would be, our life today would be if we truly greeted everyone we met in this way today.

Challenge: Namaste: ‘the divine in me bows to the divine in you’. Greet everyone you meet today in this way. OK, so actually saying it and bowing with your hands pressed together may feel like a step too far, but perform it inside your head. Let’s see if it changes how you react to each individual. Let me know if it does!