Amen or Om?

As a christian yogi stoic, I am a living contradiction. I completely understand questions around which ideology holds more deeply. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Noone comes to the Father except through me.” Also yoga, much like stoicism, has a much more open minded tack. In fact, followers of stoicism often say things like, “take what you like and leave the rest.” And some eastern religions, yoga included, are not exclusive. Therefore, there are two questions presented in the title, “Amen or Om?” Firstly, how can I (or anyone) reconcile following Christianity and yoga, or any other philosophy. Secondly, what’s my preference and why? I find both questions very difficult to approach, but also I find conclusive answers.

How can christianity be reconciled with belief in the path of yoga and stoicism? This is a question of contradictions, which leads me to examine the fundamental beliefs in order to see contradictions. Christianity has wonderfully simple presuppositions. 1. I have evil tendencies (rooted in my selfishness). 2. God, the Creator, is perfect, and is enacting His perfect plan. 3. My evil deserves God’s justice, because perfection implies both goodness and justice. 4. Jesus is God’s plan to satiate His justice, so that I can have relationship with Him, without defiling Him. 5. The result of the sacrifice of Jesus is that I have union with God now, and at every moment that I choose, because I am filled with a Holy Spirit. Some christians will find it troubling that I used the article “a” for the Holy Spirit as they believe it should be “the” Holy Spirit, and I did that with purpose. Certainly, we are filled with a Holy Spirit, but the move to the Holy Spirit is an acknowledgement of exactly the dogma of yoga and zen buddhism, that the divine unites us all. A Holy Spirit implies that part of me is divine (thank Jesus). The Holy Spirit implies that and also how the divine in me unites me with other aspects of creation. Some christians feel only united with other believers, others with all sentient life, and others still with all of creation. Yogis cleanly hold that we are united in this way with all life, at the least, and possibly united with all creation. These beliefs are not far removed. The difference is that christianity calls for faith first, and then action, where yoga calls for action that leads to faith. The important piece lies in the fact that the end is the same. I believe that yoga leaves room for a half-belief which should be combatted by doubling down on action, christianity allows for far worse evils because of its reliance on faith above action, which James takes great care to warn is against. Therefore, personally, I see no contradiction. Full faith, with the coupled action, will lead to the same axioms of belief. And any yogi worth their salt, will see the value and drive behind the christian axioms of faith. Stoicism, similarly, takes no call on singularity. In fact, being pure philosophy, stoicism couldn’t care less what we believe and follow, it is simply a path that defines useful actions and so drives what we should do. All in all, yoga gives an actionable path. If you stop part way, you are choosing to forego meaning in life. Christianity gives a path of faith that can be unactionable and dogmatic when applied in the heart and not interacting with the world. Both are terrible when half applied and both have the ability to “fix” the other’s faults. Lastly, both lead to heaven or samadi in the moment, only when we actively drive toward them in every moment. All of these systems support each other and none are useful unless they are the whole drive of every moment of our lives.

Om or amen? Amen clearly means, “so be it, let it become true.” Om is the primordial vibration of existence. Admittedly, I don’t like starting and ending yoga classes with communal Om. However, I have found immense benefit behind the vibration of humming during meditation. Before I continue with the ideas of Om and the vibration of humming, let me say that I LOVE the idea and statement of Amen.

Amen is the closing statement that doubles down on everything. My favorite is, “Your [God’s] will on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.” A great example is how my mom recently asked me to pray for the outcome of the US supreme court ruling dealing with Roe vs. Wade. I have huge issues with this legislation. It is the defense of an immense amount of lives but also drives women away from defense of and agency over their own bodies. I believe in personal agency, and I believe God does as well. Obedience to God’s law is the source of freedom, and it is for freedom that Christ set us free. That is absolute. However, that statement is often used by the church as a weapon, and that is evil. The only weapon against evil is the good news so we should run from christians preaching what feels like bad news. God redeems all of us, regardless of our choices, not the supreme court or common culture. I believe in God’s gift of agency and freedom to all people, and I have no dogma about the beginning of life. My response to my mom’s prompting is prayer that “God’s will be done.” I trust the good God. If abortion becomes illegal in any community, I worry for the health of those women and children alike. (The chruch should be intimately familiar with coathanger abortions and combatting them through councilling and help. Unfortuntely, the church I’m familiar with is more ready to damn women for even thinking this way than to find avenues of help.) On the other hand, if abortion becomes easy and legal in any community, my heart goes out to the unborn*. All of that said, God’s will be done. Amen.

This is the nature of Amen. My will is unimportant. My understanding is unimportant. The only important thing is the will of God. He drives the future. It is my imperative to do His work, pray for His will, and trust that the result is His.

Om, or Aum, as a word, does not carry the same weight to me. However, I have been amazed about the influence of humming in meditation. Traditionally, Om is expressed as 6 parts. When you chant om, it’s often 3 parts “Aah,” 2 parts “Oh,” and 1 part “Mmm.” I’m a big fan of just the “mmm” part. There are meditations I love to teach but I don’t think they’re useful in script so let’s leave it to say that humming, when seated upright in meditation and holding the rest of the body still, can be very interesting. There are physiological reasons and, my understanding is that, they come down to glands. Of course, this is a simplification but glands are organs that produce, hold, and release fluids that contain hormones. When the body signals a release of hormones, a muscle pumps from the bottom of the gland (or sack) which gives the visual that there is some fluid that sits along the sides and has the potential to remain there through successive releases/pumps. This is one of the reasons why it’s super healthful to invert the body every day, or also to vibrate the body, such as running, jumping, or in the case of some glands in the skull: singing, yelling, or humming. Notably, the pituitary gland is in the center of many brain functions, between the cerebrum and the brain stem. Humming, and indeed many other activities, vibrate the skull and the pituitary gland, detoxifying and releasing any stagnant liquid. I love humming meditations because of these things… probably? I definitely love them and I think they have a specific effect. I’m guessing as to whether this is why. My intent here is to say that there is good reason that a major piece of the religious tradition has to do with the chanting of, “Om,” and that this should be respected. Amen is the closing of a prayer, but om has different usefulness in it’s own right.

Obviously, I prefer “amen” over “om,” however, I’m trying to make it clear that they both have discrete uses. Amen is an acceptance that God’s will be done, despite my desires, which I express in prayer. It gives me the ability to represent my will and give it up, an idea the Stoics express as “amor fati".” Om is a chant with wonderful results, expecially the “mmm” piece, and those results are literally applicable as they bring physiological results. Both are truly wonderful. As a God seeking person, have you done both today?

*Sidenote: My God is a God of freedom so I’m wary of taking rights of people. Abortion laws are a restriction of rights. If God allows my will, I wish that women choose for themselves. The reason is that I don’t trust the government to take choices from people. I trust mothers to make the right choices for themselves and their families while advised by professionals. I do not trust the government to choose for people. That said, God’s will be done. Amen.