Pandora’s Podium

In the Highest Vibration of Love

It’s been a few years now since I’ve used standard letter closings such as “Sincerely, “Best Regards”, or “Much Success.”  Finding a way to convey what I’d come to believe was my truest and best expression to the recipients of my letters and emails– quite possibly a stranger – suddenly was giving me agida.  Quickly and without much thought, I created what I thought to be the quintessential alternate, yet was immediately confronted with fears that someone might get the wrong idea.  Additionally I faced my own duplicity as I questioned who might receive these veritable “truths” of my very being–and who wouldn’t.  Before any decision could be made, I was forced to ponder how I could profess such a profound gesture for some but not for others?  Nevertheless, once all my deliberating was done my concerns yielded to a decision that saves me from ever having to contemplate my “sincerity” or the desire for ones success anymore when sending mail.

Happy with my decision and without further adieu I typed while gazing at the display before me, closed the dialogue box in my email client and smiled.  I’d just coined my very own valediction thus my permanent signature block had been “born.” Fondly I recall the completion of my very next email with nary a thought given to how I would sign it, for already placed was the sentiment I’d always wanted to convey, “In the Highest Vibration of Love.”  End of story.  Final Answer!

As was expected (albeit more quickly than presupposed), I found myself looking into faces with raised eyebrows, while hearing cynical yet stern voices from some within my close knit circle.  Feeling I needed protection they began to chide and admonish,  saying things like; “surely you don’t use that on all your correspondence and certainly not your business letters.”  “People will not take you seriously” they said,  “they will definitely think you are a flake!” WOW!  How liberating…that was! On that day I became free, complete and totally happy, for it was on THAT day I knew what I’d be doing for the rest of my life. End of story.  Final Answer!

Greetings, Salutations and Valedictions

In South Asia, Namaste, a Sanskrit word is a common greeting whether you are religious or not, much like we use hello in the US.  People use hello in other places in the world, but it’s usually when answering the phone, and not when greeting someone face to face.  Namaste has many sweet sentiments, one of my favorites; attributed to Lilias Folan, “your spirit and my spirit are ONE.”  Then there’s Ram Dass’ explanation of Namaste; “I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.” How cool is that?!

Then there is the power packed noun, verb, adjective or adverb Hebrew word,  Shalom. My understanding of its etymology suggests this word means wholeness, safety, wellness and happiness, or “that which is ours” without doing anything.  Think about it.  Peace can be likened to a pre-paid credit card or better still like the wind which blows.  It’s there, simply for the taking.  There’s NOTHING one has to do for it. The Arabic counterpart, As-salamu’Alaykum means “peace be upon you.  For many of us, these two beautiful greetings may be relatively new, and although culturally I have no kinship to them, I’ve been known to use them when appropriate, but I’m not sure just how much I concentrate on the power of the words. Seems to me a whole lot of people aren’t paying attention to it right now.  I’m just sayin’.  Nevertheless, I couldn’t even begin to approach the scope and depth of these two words in this post.  Suffice it to say, if you’re not familiar and you enjoy understanding the depth of words I encourage you to take a closer look at these two.

The Chinese say Ni hao,  an affirmation that you’re good. When is the last time someone walked up to you and said that you were “good?” The Wikipedia entry for Ni hao further tells us the casual Russian greeting zda’rova- a common form of “hi”  actually translates to “healthy.”

Why does it matter?

Personally, I think words mean something – and yes, I’ve been accused of being a master of stating the obvious.  The Dogon people have a word for “what words mean”.  They call it NOMMO, which means there is power in the spoken word.  Hmmm…I wonder if that’s true?  Your thoughts?

From time immemorial right up thru today we are bombarded by declarations that suggest an advanced species has resigned itself to the inkling that peace is an ideological impossibility.  Such expositions cast a pall which overshadows certain powers and all but annihilates the individual valiant efforts of far too many people who perform their “valiant efforts” primarily outside of the scope of aggregate concerted unity.  Translation?  There are so many people doing so many good things for peace..but they are all doing them in separate little groups, and we’re getting nowhere fast.   From ancient broadcasting’s of the biblical prophets, “Peace, Peace and there is no Peace,” to present day promulgations from the highest leaders of the land scoffing at the notion that we could ever achieve peace makes it distinctly evident that ANY AND ALL initiatives which do not provide distinguishable activities that focus on the advancement of our sovereign right to a peaceful existence will ALL WAYS fall short of its goals. Do you think we are an advanced species capable of peace?  Well, do you?

I am of the thought that without peace there is no happiness, without happiness true love can never exist and without love there is no God, there is no you.  And for those that believe (and even for those that don’t), that they are made in that image must remember, “God is Love,” or my personal preference, “Love is God” it just might be high time for some serious thought on how faith can be turned to certainty.   So why does it matter?  It matters because EVERY opportunity we’re given to interact with others, no matter how small, gives us the chance to share love and thereby receive it.

So, Are There Any Practical Solutions?

Of course there are, and we’re on it.  With intelligent compassion, we the women of the world have chosen to exploit characteristics inherent of the human female with a brand uniquely identified as the vehicle for the unified voice of the strident efforts of women – ALL women. We join together absent of anger not action; we accept responsibility to bring about eternal peace utilizing the power of words along with the power of participation,  outside of any religion or creed other than Love and Happiness.  Quotes such as that said by H.H. Dali Lama “The world will be saved by the western woman” are not seen as a challenge, but as an opportunity to embrace, engage and utilize modern tools to facilitate and advance what we believe is the inevitable -  peace on planet earth.

Therefore with one purpose in mind – to attain with full enlightenment the proverbial, and so they lived happily ever after”- we pledge our support to the efforts of Pandora’s Pantry;  to aright (re-write) the legend of Pandora  by introducing new memes to circumvent and repair our crisis in this novel approach of collectively writing, acting & presenting to the world our story of change,  and encourage countless women and existing organizations to participate with us as we redefine to redesign and set a stage for a herstory (his too) future generations will ponder with awe, admiration and pride; we can only become the power of one through the power of participation and expose the one thing greater than unity – Nothing!

Truly from the depth of my soul I want you to know, this is your personal invitation to participate on this interactive platform where we will facilitate our “distinguishable activity for peace” by introducing and making available sustainable and cutting edge products and services that heal our hearts, minds our bodies and our world;  and that generate awareness and revenue to support initiatives consistent with our goals of empowering women to fully use their natural and even supernatural talents in achieving measurable results of raising the GPH (Gross Planetary Happiness) with LOVE on the road to peace and prosperity.   Yes, I know that was a mouthful and an eyeful and anything else you might think of, but hey, don’t look so forlorn, remember… credit card?  Wind? It all seems quite simple, to me.  And if the Dogon people had it right, the power to create is all in what you say – with your spirit. Perhaps  if we simply developed and focused on our individual passions for peace- together–we’d already be exactly where we want to be.  I’m feeling better about everything already. Your thoughts?

In the Highest Vibration of Love

Denise Baraka Lawrence