Something intriguing showed up on my Facebook feed this week (originally posted by Sophie Fox and shared by one of my connections).

I didn’t have a religious upbringing but like all school children in the UK at that time I learned the Lord’s Prayer.  Or at least, I thought I did…

According to Sophie, the meaning of the prayer may have been lost in translation.

Here’s her original post:

The Lord’s Prayer…translated from Aramaic directly into English. Rather than from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English (which most of us are used to from the King James version:

 

O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration, soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide.

Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission.

Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire.

Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.

Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.

Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.

For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power, and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.

And So It Is!

Any translation from one language into another is a matter of understanding and opinion, so I believe that the original meaning of the Lord’s Prayer could easily have been distorted through multiple translations. I don’t speak any of the languages concerned well enough to translate something as complex as this but I’d love to hear from anyone with a good grasp of Aramaic.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the lovely words of this alternative version.

(And if you’re wondering about the photo, I took it outside St Peter’s in Rome one Sunday morning.  Just after the Pope gave his blessing, lots of people released balloons.  It’s one of my favourite photos and this is probably the only excuse I’ll ever have to share it with you)

I attended a networking meeting this week and the speaker – talking about resilience and remote working used this quote from Maya Angelou.

It resonated for me with the NLP idea of ‘being at cause’.  If you’re not familiar with that, it comes from the relationship of cause and effect.  When someone has a problem, they are often experiencing the ‘effect’ end of the equation…

“someone has let me down”

“the system is stopping me doing that”

“the weather’s getting in the way”

“my boss isn’t supporting me” 

and so on.

These are all uncomfortable experiences and they’re made worse by the sense that someone or something else holds the control in the situation.

The mental discipline of ‘being at cause’ is to focus on the choices that ARE available instead of the ones that are blocked.

“one person has let me down so I’m looking for someone else”

“the system is stopping me doing that, I wonder if there’s another way”

“the weather’s getting in the way today, so maybe we’ll do it tomorrow”

“my boss isn’t supporting me, I haven’t made the case compelling enough yet”

The benefit of this way of thinking is that it puts you back in control.  You have choices.  You can make decisions.  You are in charge of your own experience.

Who doesn’t want that?