NAMASTE - 2008 The Inside J.O.B. of World Peace

When you google NAMASTE here is what you get:

* “I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."

* "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells”

* "I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace”    

* “When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."

* "I salute the God within you."                               

* "I recognize that we are all equal."

* “The entire universe resides within you."

* “The divine peace in me greets the divine peace in you."

* "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."

* "That which is of the Divine in me greets that which is of the Divine in you."

* "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you".    

Something about this greeting - which comes from the East, and the gesture of bowing from the heart, has always compelled me, way before I knew what it meant. It was not part of the culture I grew up in.

As much as I love touching, hugging, and feel comfortable with showing physical affection, aesthetically and energetically, NAMASTE feels right, because there it is an honoring of the One Self. You have to be confident, sincere, self-contained, and dwell in your own body, in order to bow and not fall, stumble or feel ridiculous, when both your hands are touching together at the level of the heart, and when you're facing another.

As a westerner, you have to be sufficiently free of your ego - in order for such a gesture to be authentic. Whenever I see the Dalai Lama bow and smile, I can feel the lightness of heart, that has come to symbolize an inner peacefulness that is honoring of the One Self, and yet it feels whimsical and funny at the same time.

In 2007, I had to learn through some very challenging experiences, the virtue of Self-honoring. That if I didn't do my part in honoring my Self - NAMASTE was not complete. It could become yet another co-dependent, looking-good, yet, feeling-empty-inside deal. And I don't mean emptiness in the Buddhist way, but rather feeling damaged, lost and bruised-at-the ego way. I had to learn how to take full responsibility for NAMASTE.