Musing on Mem

For the past 2-3 years I have been intrigued with studying the Hebrew alphabet. Why on earth is that, you may wonder…

When I was taking the classes to learn the use of tuning forks for healing, a learning tool that was used to show us the impact of vibration was cymatics. Cymatics is the term for being able to see the shape that a vibration creates. Sound can be resonated and, via a machine that connects to a smooth surface such as glass, sand or thin filings placed on top of the glass form a shape or pattern that is unique to the frequency being sounded. It is a way to see directly the impact of vibration on matter! (And by the way, the designs are quite lovely.)

Here’s a link to a page that gives a few examples of the patterns that form with different sounds:
https://www.cymascope.com/cyma_research/musicology.html

OK, so what does this have to do with the Hebrew alphabet? As part of the tuning forks class, it was mentioned that there are two languages in which, when a letter is sounded, the form it takes cymatically is very close to how the actual letter is written in the language. By now you have probably guessed that one of those is Hebrew. The other is Sanskrit.

That said, I enjoy synchronicities. Last night I attended a memorial service at a local Jewish organization following the shooting at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, CA. One of the readings handed out talked about the vastness of the Torah.

One reason of the far-reaching quality of the Torah is to make sure that “everyone finds his or her place… Our journey always begins from… where we find ourselves, and from there we proceed out into the broad expanse of the sea. We all have a… home harbor in Torah… [that] speaks uniquely to our soul and propels us forward. One person feels the beauty of Shabbat, another feels the pull of Torah study, and yet another feels the exquisite pleasure of philanthropy.”  These offer a variety of ways for the person to experience the essence of G-d.  (Quote taken from the Mishnah Neshamah for Mrs. Lori Gilbert-Kaye.)

And what does this have to do with Mem? Edward Hoffman, in his book The Hebrew Alphabet, has this   to say about the letter, mem.

"Mem begins and closes the Hebrew word for water (mayim), and symbolizes for Jewish mystics the vast sea of human consciousness containing depths concealed from view…. We each have deep regions of intuitive knowledge and sensitivity seldom acknowledged…. [in today’s world].  Yet these watery realms of spirit are vital to our overall well-being. As the Zohar (the basic Kabbalah text) poetically advises, “Just as the celestial stream flows on forever without ceasing, so must one see that his own river and spring shall not cease in the world.”  (page 56)
This was also the message of the memorial service that honored the life of the woman who died by unselfishly taking action to save the Poway Rabbi’s life. “Lori’s soul, however, was not killed, for a soul is indestructible.”

Her part in the watery energy of Mem continues on. Which brings to mind a quote from Hindu guru, Paramahansa Yogananda. Here’s what he says about the soul: “Our real self, the soul, is immortal… We exist, and that existence is eternal. The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost. It becomes one with the ocean or returns again in the form of another wave.  This body has come, and it will vanish; but the soul essence within it will never cease to exist. Nothing can terminate that eternal consciousness.”

And that is why Mem is on my mind – there seems to be something that spiritual people connect with water, life, consciousness, the eternal… Our individual souls, each perhaps ports on the ocean, yet all connected to the other ports via the water that touches them all.

Wishing you the fulfillment of finding your soul’s path and the knowledge that it is everlasting.

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