Vapor Meditation

Thank u

I love the work of the liturgists. I thank you so much for the art you create. It is so different, and so thought provoking, and so beautiful. It has been of so much value in understanding my journey. 

Thank you!  Beautifully done!

Amazing video.
Beautiful message.

Simply beautiful.

What language was it in the beginning?

They did such an amazing job on this video. Wow.

I was unsure if he was saying the Hebrew was meaningless...I wonder what the translation is of that Hebrew

The Hebrew is from the first two verses of Ecclesiastes, "The words of the teacher, son of David, King in Jerusalem. ''Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Does anyone know of a full audio for the Hebrew?

The meaning of the words is so true, so refreshing, so humbling, so authentic, yet inspiring.

Wow...

I watch this video a lot. It really helps me to be a more forgiving, kinder and just all round better person. Ever new day that I'm given on this earth all I want is to be a little better than I was the day before. :-)

i keep coming back to this video from time to time. it's like a jolt to my head - a restart that i need every once in awhile. i wish that it had millions of views because it is such an important message.

Can anyone recommend more videos like this? I can't find any anywhere!

At this point I probably have listen to it for over 100 times. I keep forgetting it =/

What is the prayer / song at the every beginning, before Michaels Vocals?

When I'm feeling really overwhelmed, I listen to this. It makes everything seem a little easier to bear.

incredible.

I'm not sure if God is real or not, but I like to take a little time every single day to ponder my existence. I like to see the scriptures as the universe's message itself. Some of them are downright putrid, but hearing things like "My yolk is easy" really vibes with me.

Amo esta meditación.

There should be more videos like this. No catchy music that is louder than the words but simple music supporting the words. So beautiful

Full Transcript:

In Hebrew: דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן-דָּוִד, מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם. הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת, הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל.
Meaningless, Meaningless, Everything is Meaningless

Most scientists estimate that the universe is 13.77 billion years old, and that
the earth is 4.54 billions years old, while human beings have only been on earth for
less than 200, 000 years. To put those numbers in perspective, if you stretched out
your arms and your entire wingspan was representative of earth's geological history,
and then you took a nail file and took just a little bit off of the edge of your fingernail,
you would have just wiped out all human history.

There's this Carl Sagan quote about a photo of earth taken from Voyager on its way
out to deep space that echoes the sentiments of the Kohelet, the Teacher, in the ancient
wisdom book called Ecclesiastes.

Here's the quote:"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you
love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was,
lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident
religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero
and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every
young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer,
every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme
leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote
of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

So here we are, on this pale blue dot. Tiny specs of dust coming into existence
for a moment. Hurling through space and time, only to flicker back out after a few
moments. These moments, these are all we have in this life. We work, we laugh, we
cry, we make love, we write books, we build empires, we wage wars. We often try to
ignore the fact that these moments are temporary. That all our empires and the gross
national product, our art and our literature, our $300 designer jeans, all of our
knowledge and technology, creativity and legacy is erased. It's all going to flicker
out at some point with everything else.

Vapor, Hevel, Meaningless. Everything and everyone is a vapor. Here for a few moments,
and then gone. This sobering thought can be depressing, Or it can be absolutely freeing.
We can either go the way of many around us and ignore this fact, medicating and numbing
ourselves in avoidance of the truth of our humanity; or maybe there's another way:
we can embrace it. We can recognize our humble place in this universe. We can recognize
the silliness of human arrogance and empire. And perhaps as a result, we can learn
to appreciate and fully experience the moments that we have as the gifts that they
are.

Think about when you were young, do you remember getting worried and stressed about
things that seemed so important at the time? Now how do you feel about those things?
The issues that felt like life and death, like how the kids didn't give you a fair
turn on the playground that day? How do you feel about that now? Do you laugh about
it? Does it seem silly? So what are you worried about today? Do you really think it
is any less silly than what you were worried about as a child? Your job- Vapor; your
apartment- Vapor; your school loans- Vapor. Everything and everyone you love and worry
about- it's all Vapor.

Are you worried about being unique or important? In our society we worship our individuality,
we love to talk about our fingerprints and snowflakes and how every individual is
unique. But, have you ever looked at a snowflake? I mean, they're all kind of the
same. Back the camera up a little bit, and you are nothing but a human being, a spec
of dust in time and space, not all that distinguishable from the 7 billion other specs
of dust swirling around you. How many of our moments on the pale blue dot do we waste
worrying and stressing about the Vapor? The Kohelet, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes,
shows us the vanity of human toil and worry. Another Teacher came and taught about
the Vapor like this- "Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

So what are you so worried about? What causes you stress? Because it's going through
the dirt like everything and everyone else. It is Vapor, mist, smoke, Hevel.
This doesn't have to be depressing, in fact, it might even be liberating. Finitude,
after all, is actually what makes life sweet. Christmas time can be such a wonderful
and magical time of year because it only happens once a year- not in spite of it.
Parents treasure their moments with their young children at home precisely because
they know those moments won't last forever- not in spite of that truth.

So take a breath. Recognize your frailty. Recognize that the things that feel so
weighty and wearisome in the back of your mind right now, are nothing but Vapor. Feel
your breath. Recognize your lungs keeping you alive without your ability to make them
work or not. Your heart is beating. Your cells are working together to keep you alive.
And it's all magical and mysterious and beautiful. Life on planet earth is a gift,
and you only get it for as long as you get it. And then the match gets blown out.

So set your hearts, not on things of earth, not on the vapor, but let go. Fully open
your heart to both the Gift and the Giver. The Mystery. The Beauty. That in which
we live and move and have our being. That in which we call God- The Oneness who holds
the Vapor together- who somehow bring meaning into the meaningless.

Thank you folks.

Why does this video end the way it does?

I went to a Gungor performance last night and during the breaks between songs
Michael and Lisa talk about the spiritual changes in their lives. They have
been on meditation retreats and by their descriptions are having New Age
Eastern religious awakenings. Lisa especially described feeling oneness with
everything around her and being part of everything and believing that God is in
everything. This is very much the Buddhist and Hindu spiritual worldview and
spiritual experience. I am concerned by what they exposed themselves to when
they moved to California. I was into the New Age, Buddism and Hinduism in my
teens and twenties during the 1970's and became a Christian in my late
thirties. I had to deal battle through an Eastern awakening while the Lord was
delivering me from a rare muscle disease. People who go in this direction do
not understand the power of the spiritual realities behind Eastern forms of
meditation. The first thing to go for most Christian's is their belief in the
uniqueness and divinity of Christ. Michael Gungor involvement in the Enneagram
doesn't help either. It has deep roots in the occult and no rigorous
psychometric research to support it.

Impermanence is freeing. You have to make your own meaning. Just be.

They spoke of two reactions: those who are comforted by this, and those who worry about their finiteness. I'm struggling between these two campus. Our culture doesn't think about death, so it's hard to come to that reality. Could accept your prayers

This video has made an impact on my life more than anything. Ever

can i use this for a video?

Corona worries? - Vapor.

Corona worries? - Vapor.

Corona worries? - vapor.

It's a great video. Thank you so much. It is possible for me to add a Dutch translation (subtitles)? That would be great.

This saves lives.

Thank you for making this Gungor.

Everything is both more and less significant than we ever thought!

My dad just showed me this on his account, hope he sees this sometime, love you dad, you are a hero

You are not alone.

הם דיברו על שתי תגובות: אלה שמתנחמים בכך, ואלה שדואגים לסופיותם. אני נאבקת בין שני הקמפוסים האלה. התרבות שלנו לא חושבת על מוות, אז קשה להגיע למציאות הזו. יכול לקבל את התפילות שלך

I’ve been listening to this since last yr (2021) and I’ve been listening to this whenever i get overwhelmed with all the good things and even the bad things. I listen to this bc it reminds me to focus on God. That apart from God, everything is meaningless

Off Spotify now? 🥺 I couldn’t help think of the lesson it was teaching me that it’s no longer there and I’d listen to it countless times

Wow what great comments we have here. Great minds here

Best video out there. It deserves more recognition.

Found this gem again after years. Still as perfectly beautiful & relevant as the first time I heard it. ❤

Jake sent me here

I listen to this almost every single morning. Thank y'all for having made this.

Hi, can I help to put the legends in Brazilian Portuguese? I watch this video like ten thousand times a year and I always want to show for everyone but I can’t because of the subtitles. Can I?
Please! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Vapor❤