Habari Gani? Amen.

Who is the Hidden One?

Thursday, May 4, 2023

It's been awhile since I've written a Habari Gani. Though we continue to add new content daily on all things "More Life. More Yoga," I post of our daily content under Liveology with occasional articles written under my own name. We just got our trademark for the name Liveology just a few weeks ago. And as Liveology trucks along, I as a person have been under major reconstruction.

Over the past year, God, or the Universe, whatever you want to call it, through a series of very interesting situations, forced me to sit the f*** down. And I say this in the most awesome way. I was stressed out, was burnt out over running a physical studio I wasn't ready for. I was producing print magazines. I was 5 years deep in a daily Ashtanga yoga practice that led to teaching and the Liveology you see today. But I wasn't healed. I was missing something.

Something interesting happens when you go from practicing to teaching. Suddenly, people are looking to you for answers or healing of some kind when oftentimes you're still seeking those same things yourself. You may be 5 steps farther down the path, but you're still on the path. I found myself coming to a place where I had to take some time to focus on my healing so that I could finally be the whole person I was seeking to be and by extension, in time, be of better service to others.

So I did the unthinkable. I took some time off from my daily Ashtanga yoga practice. I started relaxing a lot of habits, playing with the upside down, the flip side. I started sleeping in. I ate lamb and loved it. I began to prioritize love and rest. I got off social media and made new friends in real life. I surrendered to the flow of life freely - no selfies required. I began to live with more ease and less expectation. And my yoga practice began to reflect my newfound freedom. Sometimes it's Ashtangish. Sometimes it's tai chi gongish. Sometimes it's yin. Sometimes it's yang. Sometimes it's just formal pranayama and meditation. Sometimes singing is my pranayama and meditation.

As I remixed my yoga practice, I also began to explore other hobbies. I grew up in the church and used to love it, so I was excited to hear about a new choir starting up. I joined it and we sang for the first time this past Saturday. It was so life giving! I get so much joy from singing positive and encouraging songs out loud. Much of the pranayama breathing exercises I learned are helping me to strengthen my singing voice and maintain a steady breath.

The church live streams all of their services, and so I went to YouTube to watch the service back and see how the choir sounded. I was totally taken away by one part of Total Praise that I watched it over and over again. What was it? We were singing Amen at the end of the song and the final modulation just got me every time. It penetrated my soul - both in the moment we were singing and every time I watched it again. What was it?

Photo of Matossians Imported Egyptian Cigarette Cards from the New York Public Library

Meanwhile, I continued to add articles to the site every day and just so happened to be writing my most recent article "Who or What is God? An Exploration of Om/YHWH/Allah/Brahman Across the World." I ended up comparing many more entities than the ones listed, also including the Egyptian sun god Amen-Ra and the Tao. It turns out the Egyptian sun god is spelled many ways, often as Amun/Amon, and so depending on the spelling you see, it may not be apparent at first. But as I was seeking images, I found this most fascinating set of cigarette cards from Matossians Egyptian Cigarettes. It says,

This god is in reality a trinity, or triad, of the great solar gods of Egypt. Amen, the Hidden One, represents the invisible almighty power inherent in the creation, growth, and development of the animal and vegetable worlds. Ra is the self-created eternal god whose abode is the solar disk. Her-aakhuti, or "Horus of the Two Horizons," is a very ancient form of the Sun-god of Heliopolis, who made himself especially visible at sunrise and sunset, and who possessed none of that burning and destructive power which he sun had at noon-day.

Now family, especially my Christians don't get mad at me, but isn't this interesting? It seems a little too coincidental that the highest god in Egypt exists a trinity, named Am*n, called the Hidden One. It is well documented in the Bible that the Israelites were in Egypt, so it seems reasonable that things commingled.

Amen is actually a derivative of the sacred syllable Om, which the Yoga Sutras say is God's name, so it is well established that East and West comminged to some degree regarding spiritual matters.

So what was it? Why was I so taken with that moment of us singing Amen? I believe it feels good to say it out and hear it because it is a form of the sacred syllable Om and perhaps even one of God's names. Also, the arrangement and the band are just amazing.

While some people of faith may not know what to do with information like this, I would hope that people would simply use it as food for thought. I think it's fun and exciting to explore these things and actually feel that it strengthens my faith in the oneness of God. Ultimately, though we may use different words, we are trying to connect to the same Source.

Check the Magazine tab every day and go down the rabbit hole for new uplifting content daily for evolving humans. Sign up for our newsletter for weekly updates. Even during my sabbatical, I have been amazed that people continue to visit us organically from all over the world. I'm talking Denmark, Norway, Ukraine, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, India! Special shoutouts to Atlanta, Dallas, Tempe, Memphis, Detroit, Miami, and San Francisco for being the most active on the site in the U.S. Thank you.

Amen!

Christina

Christina V. Mills is the founder and producer of Liveology Yoga Studios & Magazine. She is a lifelong spiritual seeker, writer, and yoga teacher. Follow her on Instagram @morelifemoreyoga.

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Peace & Pineapples!