The Origins of "Amen" ~ As in Prayer

There are three religions that use the word Amen at the end of a prayer. I have wondered where the origin of this word came from and began researching. In the Christian and Hebrew world, it is accepted that the word comes from the Hebrew Old Testament or the Jewish Torah. This has also been adopted within the Christian faiths as well as the Muslim faith. Why is this word so important?

As with many subjects I research, it seems that I began to pull a thread that leads me to another aspect. There are research scholars of the ancient texts who go beyond what we have been taught to believe. I have found that the scholars who study the Egyptian ancient texts, drawings and hieroglyphics give a more enlightening picture. The scholars who use the Bible as their primary source have limited much of their research. One such enlightened scholar is Jahi Issa, an Elizabeth City State University professor. He became interested in his roots and traveled to Africa 26 times. He co-authored the book "The Origin of the Word Amen: Ancient Knowledge the Bible Has Never Told" with Salim Faraji, another scholar. I found one source for the book, which now sells for $293.00.

In reference to the word Amen, he alleges the word can be traced to pre-dynastic Egypt. He alleges the word means "the unseen principles of God" while others state the meaning can be "so be it," or it is so."

In ancient Egypt, some of the pharaoh's names began with "Amen," i.e. Amenhotep of which there were four pharaohs in the 18th dynasty. Historical records indicate the ancient Egyptians had a god named Amen whose meaning was the personification of air or breath. The god Amen is also known as Amun and its sign was the ram or Aries. There is an avenue of stone rams at Karnak, Egypt and is called the Avenue of the Ram.

My personal understanding is that when we utter a prayer to our God as we understand it to be and end it with Amen, it means that the prayer is accomplished. The numerous times the word has been said in its meanings of So be it or It is done seals the prayer

LOVE AND GRATITUDE

I have written about love and gratitude in previous articles, and I cannot stress the importance of creating our life with the powerful frequency of Love and Gratitude. It can override any situation when evoked sincerely. We are living in trying times on this planet and societies have become steeped with fears, judgments, prejudices and control. Where did these beliefs/attitudes come from? There really is not any one culprit, however various religions have done much to perpetuate these and it is time for us to look at our religious beliefs. Religion and spirituality is not the same thing. Religion is man-made while spirituality comes within with a direct connection to that which created us. Some may call this connection God, Allah, Buddha or whatever name one wants to place on it. All plants, animals and water respond to love and gratitude. Even the earth responds to love and gratitude. This is ancient knowledge.

I have gone through a period of my life where I was judgmental, had prejudices , thought I was a victim, anger, jealousy, and I realized that those emotions and attitudes did not serve me. No, they made me sick and miserable. This is when I began my awakening as described in my book Awakening the Genie Within. I have discovered that to live a balanced life that my main tools are observation, love and gratitude.

We can change our lives by observing our beliefs, attitudes and emotions and discarding those that no longer contribute to our well-being or happiness. In speaking about love, I am not addressing romantic love, or parental love. I am writing about universal love and when we can place a non-biased love as a blessing on people, places, events, our food, our drink, our animals, plants and this Earth, we have altered the frequencies and a blossoming occurs not only in our self but also in others.

Love has many attributes such as kindness, acceptance, understanding, allowing, with no judgments or prejudices. I have learned that the more I put into action these attributes that my life has less chaos. I have learned for myself to mentally stand back, observe my reactions, and then choose to change them. It is a challenge at times to observe situations, which spawns herd mentality. It takes courage to step out of the box, but it can be done. Complacency stagnates love. It lulls one into a false sense of security. I have realized that there are times to speak out on issues, but there is also a time when to keep silent and observe until I realize that something wonderful may come from this.

Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation. It is also acknowledgement of a benefit received or will receive. I grew up in a household where we said a blessing for our food at every meal. I never understood why and it appeared to be a rote action. A true blessing is one said silently or vocally with focused intent. The blessing of food, drink or anything is also ancient knowledge. The pagans used blessings and gratitude long before the Christians. There are many stories of people who gave a blessing, a prayer of thanks for something they knew they would receive.

From my perspective if more people would begin blessing their lives and the people in their lives along with their possessions, jobs, the problems would fade away because showing gratitude for everything opens doors to new possibilities. Margaret Cho stated it quite well, "Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone's life forever."