So Hum is a cat.
So
Hum is a mantra.
“So Hum” is I Am.
So Hum is a synchronicity.
So Hum is new to the neighborhood. He
moved in with his human companion, Claire (“light”), a yoga practitioner, a
couple of months ago. He is a Garfield-shaped, grey, short-haired embodiment of
the divine. He roams the neighborhood, lumbers across my front yard and hurdles
himself, more or less, over the morning-glory-planter fence between my garden
guru’s yard and mine. Unsure of our relationship, as was I (Does he consider my
flower beds a litter box?), he did not tarry in my yard. Gradually, we’ve come to
know one other.
It goes without saying (until now!),
Claire is a metaphysical thinker, or she would not have named So Hum “So Hum.” So hum is a Sanscrit mantra. It means “I
am.” It is the name God reveals to Moses at the burning bush when asked his
name. Ehyeh asher ehyeh (Exodus 3:12)
literally translates as "I Will Be What I Will Be," however, most English
translations render it as
“I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14), in one of the most famous verses in the Torah,
or first five books of the Bible.
So
Hum, the Sanscrit
mantra, plays a large role in the Oprah/Chopra 21-day Meditation Challenge for
Perfect Health the Spiritual Adventuress completed this week. The words “I Am”
contain the mystical power of creation because whatever follows those two
words. . . I am tired, I am sick, I am healthy, I am prosperous,
describes a state of being that manifests, or takes physical form. Therefore,
Deepak Chopra chose the words following “I am” with clarity and intention in
these daily centering thoughts:
I am perfection. I am healthy. I am strong.
I am one with the breath of
life.
I
am flexible, powerful, and balanced.
I am an exquisite expression of nature.
I am ageless and timeless.
I
am absolute existence. I am a field of all possibilities.
Over the years, a great spiritual practice for me
has been listening to myself speak and think, paying attention to what follows after
I say, “I am.” I am claiming my experience, creating my life by speaking my
word. Sometimes immediate editing is necessary! It can also be very revealing
to listen to others speak themselves into existence. And, taken to the next
level, to know you and they are one. “I Will Be What I Will Be” is whatever we
state, whatever we create.
Creation does not take form from mindless repetition
of positive statements, which leads some people to conclude affirmations don’t
work. It’s much more complex than simple repetition. To manifest, or take form,
the process must include not only embodying the thought, but also the feeling,
that the statement is already accomplished. Creating from a consciousness of
wholeness (as God,* or “I am”),
everything does already exist. Repetition is necessary until the feeling is
present and any subconscious counter-intentions are dissolved.
So, So Hum as a cat, So Hum as a mantra, So Hum as “I am,” and So Hum as synchronicity.
The dog chases its tale. Everything comes full circle in synchronicity. In the
4T class this week, heart coherence and the work of the Heart Math Institute were
discussed. When the lub-dub sound of the beating heart was translated into “so-hum,
so-hum, so-hum” or “I am, I am, I am,” the insight came that God’s name, the “I
am” of the beating heart, is love. Metaphysically, your name is your nature.
God’s nature is love. Every beat of our heart is announcing, “I am, I am, I am.
. . love.” Sychronistically, the class assignment for the week was to make a
treasure map, or vision board using magazine photos, to depict what we are
creating in our lives. Alternatively, we could construct an “I am” board representing
the qualities of consciousness we are focused on expressing. Mine included the
21-day meditation mantra So Hum.
Slowly crunching my way over the gravel driveway as
I entered our community, I noticed So Hum sitting on his haunches outside his
home. Stopping the car, I rolled down my window and greeted him by name, “So Hum,
So Hum, So Hum,” now deeply aware of its meaning. He seemed attentive though
unresponsive. Once I parked the car, he walked over, and, for the first time,
rubbed up against my legs and let me pet him. I had seen his true nature, and
mine, as expressions of the beating heart of the Universe. In loving
recognition, we acknowledged one another, ourSelf.
“Notice the coincidences in your life. Coincidences
are messages. They are clues from God or spirit or nonlocal reality, urging you
to break out of. . . your familiar patterns of thinking. They are offering you
an opportunity to enter a domain of awareness where you feel loved and cared
for by the infinite intelligence that is your source. Spiritual traditions call
this the state of grace,” says Dr. Deepak Chopra in his book Synchrodestiny:
Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles.
Coincidentally, I’m reading it this week.
*Interchangeable with Spirit, Energy, Universal
Mind, Unity Consciousness, Field of All Possibilities, Allah, Buddha. . .
