Like Paul on the Areopagus in Athens confronting the altar dedicated to the
"unknown god" I have, in recent months, been finding God in the
strangest of places. I find him in
movies like Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man and Clint Eastwood's Pale
Rider. He's there peeking out at me
from behind the pages of the pages of a Dean Koontz novel. And (most surprising, to me anyway…) in John
Lennon's song Across the Universe.
I know. I know.
I know. There was that whole "more
popular than Jesus" thing that really irked a lot of people and tended
to set John (and the Beatles) against God and religion, but as John attempted
to explain later, "I am not
anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion.
I was not saying we are greater or better. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not
as an old man in the sky. I believe what
people call God is something in all of us.
I believe that what Jesus, and Mohammed, and Buddha and all the rest
said was right, it's just that the translations have gone wrong."
I don't subscribe to his opinion that Jesus,
Mohammed, and the Buddha all other religious teachers had equally true
messages; I firmly believe that Jesus is as he said he was- the only way- but John’s
thought that "what people call God
is something in all of us" really began to register – in much the same
way that Paul's message on the Areopagus did:
"Men of Athens ! I see that in every way you are very
religious. For as I walked around and
looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this
inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown, I
am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17: 22-23)"
There's something of the religious unknown, the
numinous in John's writing; that while he himself may not have been aware of
what it was, we can see and know that he was connecting with the mystery of
God.
Across The Universe
Across The Universe first appeared as a charity
single release in December of 1969, and was later released in a slightly different
version on the Beatles 1970 album Let It
Be. The song was written by John
Lennon (though, as with all Beatles songs written by either Lennon or
McCartney, it was formally credited to Lennon-McCartney).
The song began in 1967 as John's relationship to his
first wife, Cynthia Powell was falling apart.
One night he was in bed listening to her talk and talk and talk and
talk. Perhaps somewhat cruelly, the
opening phrase of the song popped into his head, "Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup." In a flash of inspiration he got up and
rushed to find a pen and paper to finish writing the lyrics. When he finished he went to sleep and forgot
them.
This flash of inspiration, I believe, was a God
gift, a sacred thing. The 19th
century poet Percy Shelley wrote "A
man cannot say, 'I will write poetry.'
Not even the greatest poet can say it, for the mind in creation is as a
fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens
to a transitory brightness."
This 'inconstant wind' moving through John Lennon was the Holy Spirit,
causing him to compose a hymn to an Unknown God (unknown to John, anyway).
Words are flying
out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me
The song begins with a self aware contemplation of
life: Words, the interchange of ideas,
the communication of thoughts – these things slip away leaving only the
underlying experience. Words –as
important and vital as they are – cannot contain or fully express the human
experience. 'Pools of sorrow' and 'waves
of joy' are aqueous primordial emotions.
From the very beginnings of the universe when all was dark and formless
water, sorrow and joy have washed over us.
Jai guru deva om
The chorus of Across
The Universe begins with the Sanskrit phrase, "Jai guru deva om." John
and the other members of the Beatles were briefly interested in eastern philosophy
and Transcendental Meditation. The use
of the Hindi refrain reflects this interest. And here is where the
"Unknown God" creeps in.
A breakdown of the etymology of the phrase is as
follows:
Jai means "victory" or "success" or "glory" or
"thank you"
A guru is a teacher or a master
A deva is a "God" or "heavenly
one"
The phrase can thus be expressed: "Glory to the heavenly teacher" or
"Victory to the Divine teacher" or "Thank you heavenly
Lord."
I think John, fanned to transitory brightness by the
blowing of the Holy Spirit, was saying more than he knew. He may not have known Jesus as his personal
"guru" but for those of us who do, "Jai guru deva" could be a phrase used in corporate worship
right along with "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
The phrase ends with the Hindi word, "om." Om (also
written Aum or Ohm) is considered the most sacred syllable in Hinduism,
symbolizing the infinite and the entire universe; the primal sound. Phonetically and practically, "Om " is quite similar to the Christian
"Amen." It is used, like the
"amen" to begin or conclude prayers.
"Amen" or "let it be (another great Beatles song…)"
can be considered an "om" – a word to connect the worshiper with the
will of the infinite, the creator of the universe, the all in all. When we pray "amen" we are
submitting our will and our desire; we are emptying ourselves of all egoism and
selfish conceit and submitting to the will and plan of the infinite God of the
universe.
Nothing's gonna’ change my world
In the beginning the world was only chaos- welter and waste- crashing waves and formless water. But the creator God imposed order on these turbulent waters and brought forth a marvelously complex and intricately beautiful world. For those living in Jesus, the "yes and amen" of God, the "om" of God, the world is not a frenzied welter and waste, but an unshakable kingdom. There is security and safety and rest in Christ. Nothing's gonna change my world.
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
On and on across the universe
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
On and on across the universe
The second verse begins a journey. We begin to leave behind the futile paper cup
of words and begin to follow "images
of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes." It's
a beautiful image of the shining effulgence of God's glory dancing before us,
calling us, leading us towards "limitless
undying love which shines around me like a million suns." God is love.
We follow the sounds of his laughter until we find ourselves in a place
where tears are wiped away and we live in the glory of God, brighter than a
million suns- a place where there is no night.
Images of broken
light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Jai guru deva om.
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Jai guru deva om.
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