SOME  SACRED  WORDS - THEIR ORIGINS AND MEANINGS

Sylvia Sharama Vowless QSM

Ever since the creation of the Tower of Babel, humanity has found it difficult to dialogue easily because of the diversity of languages and nuances of meanings.  Even in our English language there’s often confusion around the words concerning esoteric and occult concepts which we call ‘sacred.’  So the subject of the misuse and misinterpretation of sacred words which seems presently at an all-time high is of concern to all discerning seekers and teachers especially now with so much written material available.  It's something I get questioned about time and time again by serious students who find the different interpretations - or misinterpretations - of various essential words highly confusing whether spoken or in the written material they read.  The misuse and misinterpretation of sacred words today appears to arise from two main reasons:

i)   People or organisations choosing to use powerful words often as marketing tools which intuitively they know have higher than usual vibrations, but without bothering to check their original meanings - even the usual dictionary meanings can sometimes point us in the right direction at least, and

ii)   A dearth of specific information as to the words’ origins, correct definitions and uses. 

So based on the 'assignment' or Divine Directive a few years ago of researching, compiling and publishing a dictionary-cum-encyclopedia of well over four hundred most commonly used sacred words, I'd like to share with you a sample selection of sacred word origins and meanings particularly those in popular use. 

Where applicable I researched word meanings from twelve reliable ancient and modern metaphysical sources (see end of this article for some) so that various legitimate interpretations could be compared.

Let's start with the most commonly used words of 'spirituality' and 'spiritual.'  Ancient Wisdom teaches that everyone and everything is Spirit manifesting in different forms.  But spiritual and spirituality have always been used to describe humanity's highest aspiration and to activities concerned with achieving this.   Thus their meaning is that which is Divine, sacred or holy, pertaining to God, the practice of becoming aware of and developing the Divine aspect of us.  So to see them used in relation to events, books, topics, specific activites, seminars etc. one should rightfully expect the focus to be concerned with understanding and developing your inner spiritual understanding and growth, rather than to forms exoteric.

Both words of course, come from the word SPIRIT which is the Divine Consciousness, the Universal Life Principle that creates and sustains all existence.  It’s therefore often loosely referred to as God, or more concisely the creative God-Force that animates all life.  In this context, Spirit is the same as the Infinite or Universal Mind which manifests all creation, or what we could call the Divine Consciousness.  Some sources use the word ‘Logos’ which is Greek for ‘word’ to explain this.  The Logos is understood to be the Word or Thought of God which causes creation including incarnating into flesh and form.

The actual word Spirit comes from the Latin word 'spiritus' meaning 'a breath,' so another way of defining Spirit is the ‘Breath of God.’  This is beautifully described in Genesis in the Bible, where it says that God breathed into the nostrils of man – Adam – and gave him life.  Another popular way of explaining creation of this dense 3-D plane is that it was formed by the ‘outbreath of God.’  Using this concept, it’s now said that as humanity begins to awaken to our Divinity, we’re beginning the return journey of creation described as the 'inbreath of God.'  SPIRIT is unchanging, infinite, universal and all-inclusive.  This means that we are all of the same Eternal Spirit.

Our quest for increasing awareness is what makes us Spiritual beings having a human experience.  The conclusion we can draw from all these definitions is that the Spirit of God within each one of us is unchanging, unlike our soul which is evolving (see below).   SPIRIT is whole, perfect, and undefilable no matter what we do, no matter what the outer appearances may be.  This gives rise to the concept that if we look past the outer appearances and recognise only the Divine Spirit or God within each person, we’re far less likely to judge one another, to criticise or condemn.  This is put so beautifully in the Sanskrit greeting of “Namaste” which translates as “I salute the God in you.”

What then you may ask, is the meaning of HOLY SPIRIT?  In many religions it’s called the Holy Ghost, and one meaning of ghost is breath.  So this again can be explained as the Breath of God within us – but with one extra and very important personal meaning.  This is that the Holy Spirit is known as the inner communicator, ‘the still small voice of God within.’  We can inwardly ‘hear’ and trust this inner voice for perfect guidance and true inner knowing which includes the all-important faculty of discernment.

There's often confusion too between the words Spirit, spirituality and spirits, spiritualism and psychic!  The words spirit and spirits usually refers to those who have died and passed over to the astral plane.  In most texts you will see that the word Spirit is written with a capital letter when referring to the original, higher meaning of the God-Force.  This identifies it from spirit or spirits (written with a lower case ‘s’) which refers to disembodied entities.  Communication with the ‘spirit world’ (another name for the astral plane) is often made through mediums and this gives rise to the terms spiritualism or spiritism.  Again these are not the same as Spiritual or Spirituality which refers to the practice of becoming aware of our Divine aspect and living by it.

The dictionary meanings of psychic are:  pertaining to the mind; spiritualistic which refers to interpretation of abnormal phenomena caused by disembodied spirit beings on mediums.  Psychic communication is usually from entities who have died and are still on the astral plane of illusion.  Sadly they are no wiser than when they were in a body - dying doesn't bring instant enlightenment!   Psychic therefore most definitely does not mean spiritual.  You can be psychic without being spiritually aware because psychic abilities relate to the sixth sense or supersensory powers which all humans have though they may not have developed, e.g. clairvoyance, psychometry.

Yet another very common confusion is between the word Spirit and SOUL.  Spirit is definitely not the same as soul, although the two terms are often used interchangeably.  While Spirit is universal, all-inclusive and therefore impersonal, the SOUL is personal.  Each individual has their own personal soul.  Although it is considered to be the eternal or immortal part of us, our soul is evolving and changing.  The soul is the creator and sustainer of human incarnation in this lower 3-D world and centre of the spiritual life of the human race.  Ancient Wisdom understands the dynamic reality of the human soul and its source, guide and guardian the I AM Presence which has the soul as its lower counterpart and reflection.

It’s through our SOUL that we are able to reach higher states of knowing who we truly are.  Throughout all our countless lifetimes of experiences, our soul absorbs and records the essence of our emotions, thoughts, actions and evolution.  This essence is then carried forward to future embodiments for completion of unfinished experiences, integration of what we have learned, and healing of karmic relationships and trauma.

It’s our soul that helps and educates us as a personality to evolve and learn from each experience, to really know ourselves, nudging us to wake up to what life is really all about and who we really are.  In turn, our soul is educated by its higher counterpart and source, our Higher God-Self or I AM. 

Another popular group of words which are widely misunderstood are AVATAR, ADEPT and master/MASTER.  The word Avatar comes from the Sanskrit word meaning 'descent.'  Its original meaning is the descent of Divinity into flesh or into a visible form.  It's quite clear therefore that you cannot become an Avatar!  Avatars are born, not made.  Throughout history the few true Avatars who have come to earth have without exception displayed non-human or Divine and superhuman attributes, abilities and higher wisdom right from an early age.

However, humans have the potential to become Adepts (note use of capital letter to denote a title) although this is still a relatively rare occurrence.   The word literally means to attain, so there is often confusion between becoming adept or skilled at a particular activity, and becoming an Adept.  An Adept is one who has attained Enlightenment and Self-realization or conscious oneness with the Divine, self-mastery, power and mastery of transmutation, regeneration, power of performing miracles, alchemy and usually  immortality in that they can live in a physical body for far longer than the usual human span.  Depending upon the level of Adeptship, many can dematerialize and materialize their physical bodies at will.  

Similarly with master and a Master - after sufficient training, knowledge and experience we can master a particular skill and become say a master healer or master teacher.  But a Master (note use of capital letter again) usually refers to an Ascended Master.  These are already evolved Beings who descend into physical body form to serve here on earth.  There are both male and female or Lady Masters, and they have lived here in different times and locations as different embodiments, coming to serve by teaching by their example and by demonstrating full mastery of the Cosmic Truth Principles and Universal Laws.  Once they have completed their particular service through a series of embodiments, they physically ascend back into the higher realms by transmuting their bodies into Light.  They can however, still project their body form into our frequency when they choose, usually in the form of their last physical incarnation if they want us to recognise them.

Because Ascended Masters are concerned with the evolution of all humanity, they are not concerned with our everyday mundane affairs and personal lives.  Therefore they never act as anyone’s personal guide.  They do support however, an awakened individual’s Divine service aspect of living.  One example is when part of a person’s Soul Purpose is to bring through wisdom teachings from a Master’s consciousness or energies.  But such a person has first to become prepared enough by doing the necessary work to raise their vibrations sufficiently - which can take some time and usually many lifetimes!  Such communication is usually impersonal in that it’s for the good of everyone and their spiritual growth rather than being of a personal mundane nature.  An exception to this is when a person’s Soul Service Mission or Purpose is linked to a particular Master’s consciousness and so their personal life needs occasional guidance to keep ‘on track.’

Any and every highly-evolved Being who is Enlightened be they Avatar, Adept or Master, share other characteristics as well as those already mentioned.  One of these is humility.  They have no need to say who they are - they simply demonstrate their Divinity as Jesus did by their actions, mastery and wisdom. 

As the Master Lao-Tse (Lao-Tzu) put it most succinctly:

"He who knows, tells it not;  he who tells knows it not."

Ascended Masters have come to earth to show by example our own Spiritual potential and to demonstrate how we too may achieve self-mastery and ascend our human consciousness to Higher Consciousness, often termed as becoming Christ Conscious or Enlightened.  Such levels cannot be taught, done to us or for us, nor given to us by another as they are states of Being.  Ultimately we will achieve soul ascension meaning that our soul will become re-united with our pre-existent Overself or Light Body.  For most of us at this time though, physical ascension of the body needn’t be our main concern or goal as there are many steps of soul ascension and purification to master first, many of which are achievable in any lifetime of spiritual focus and practice. 

Any path to such Higher Consciousness is a journey within.  Higher Consciousness or Enlightenment results in a natural activation and re-writing of our genetic codes because consciousness and human evolution is molecular in nature. Ancient traditions understood this inner technology and gave instructions in the science of spiritual trans-formation through the DNA of the soul as well as the inner physiological changes that will also occur naturally through such processes.  Obviously therefore it cannot be attained simply through a process or through outside means, sources, or techniques especially if performed by another person.  Nor can it be attained in a weekend or two! 

Neither can Wisdom be taught.  It can only come as a result of knowledge which each one of us must apply and put into practice in our everyday lives and thereby test its accuracy through personal experience.  Only when you have proved its truth and effectiveness for yourself can you know rather than just believe.  This is why in Ancient Wisdom teachings this soul journey which covers many lifetimes is called by such names as the Journey Within, the Path of Verification, the Way of Return.  Quietly working on ourselves day by day learning how to control our body, our minds, our emotions, words and actions and living in alignment with the Universal Laws and Principles  is the foundation. 

This is also the only sure way to gently and safely prepare us for the unfolding of the latent powerful force known as the Kundalini.  Practices to force the awakening and activation of the Kundalini are, according to all reliable texts – and I quote - “the most dangerous known to man” for Kundalini is a real force that’s as powerful in destruction as it is in integration.  Every person will automatically receive the necessary inner instruction they personally need when they’re prepared enough and when the time comes for that awakening.  Over the past couple of years I have received many calls for help from extremely distressed people around New Zealand and the world.  When asked if they could remember when their problems began, the majority immediately said it was after having some kind of energy work done that promised to activate their DNA and/or Kundalini.

Currently the names of Powers, Principles or Light Beings are often misunderstood and are sadly being trivialised by bringing them down to simple human interpretation as a person - or even adopted on occasion by ordinary people!  Some currently popular examples are the names of Melchizedek, Elohim and Maitreya who are Powers of Light way beyond even the Ascended Masters in the Spiritual Hierarchy.   They are therefore certainly not physical and only operate from the Higher Heavens, although they have on rare occasions projected a form recognizable but not human.  In fact in the case of Melchizedek the Bible specifically states in Hebrews 7:3:  He was …. “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God."   Quite an awesome concept for us to grasp!

BIBLIOGRAPHY of the main sources from which definitions are researched:

The Secret Teachings of All Ages and other works by Manly P. Hall

The Book of Knowledge: the Keys of Enoch by Professor J.J.Hurtak

Pistis Sophia - Gnostic scrolls of the resurrected Jesus

Godwin’s Cabbalist Encyclopedia

Ancient Mystical White Brotherhood and Melchizedek Truth Principles by Frater Achad