"You say goodbye and I say hello." - "Hello Goodbye,"
The Beatles
"Parting is such sweet sorrow." - "Romeo and Juliet,"
William Shakespeare
Whether you´re surfing in Maui, sunbathing in Honolulu, or hiking in any of the Hawaiian islands, you´re going to hear the natives say the word "aloha" a lot. It´s a pretty word and it´s said as a greeting for "hello" and as a farewell as in "goodbye." But that´s not all, it also means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. That´s pretty economical and conscious to use one word to mean so many different things. But it clearly elevates the meeting between people.
In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for example, you will hear Israelis using the same word to meet and to leave. That word is "shalom." And like aloha, it conveys multiple meanings such as peace, completeness, and welfare.
In Tehran and Baghdad, you will hear Arabs of different religious stripes greet and leave one another with "salaam," which also means peace. A more specific variation of this for farewell is "ma´a salama," which means goodbye. Also interestingly, "As-Salaam," is one of 99 names for God in the Koran.
When I say goodbye to a Spanish speaking person, I could go with the casual "nos vemos," which is equivalent to our "see ya." But I prefer a more spiritual farewell, "vaya con Dios," which translates as "Go with God," or the simple "adios," which corresponds roughly to "to God."
Do you see how these different cultures and religions all present hello and goodbye in a more spiritual or sacred manner?
In Swahili, the equivalent of "Goodnight" is "Wake up living." In India, some will greet and say goodbye with the expression, "Sat Nam," which can be interpreted to mean, "Truth is God´s name. Truth is my (your, our) identity." Other Indians - and quite a few American new agers these days will also say "Namaste," which means a variety of things, such as,
“The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you.”
“I greet that place where you and I are one.”
“I salute the Light of God in you.”
“I bow to the divine in you.”
“I recognize that within each of us is a place where Divinity dwells, and when we are in that place, we are One.”
Such sacred greetings and departures are missing in American culture, where a greeting might be conveyed by "Yo," (Spanish for "I") and invoking farewell the uber casual "later." Their connections to the sacred are thin and none. Despite such a debasing of true greeting, we still have some foggy intuitions left of the sacred in the English language, though we´ve lost the conscious connection of its significance. Our word, "goodbye," is actually a contraction for "God be with thee" - but what American knew that? A similar unconsciousness exists in the French lexicon - far too many Pierres and Brigittes have forgotten that their "adieu," really is a contraction of "to God."
There´s something very beautiful, truly spiritual, about these foreign greetings and farewells. If you like them, and believe that the American English "hello" and "goodbye" are emptier, by comparison, then why not incorporate them into your daily conversational quiver? You can even tell whoever you say farewell to that you´re bringing the highest vibration in the Universe into your parting. Why not make the act of living as conscious and as spiritual as possible?
The Irish, for example, certainly know it. They have a beautiful farewell blessing that goes,
“A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.”
Do you see the difference that can make?