Kotodama is a Japanese concept rooted in Shinto, the animist tradition of Japan.

The term translates loosely to “the soul of words,” reflecting the belief that language and sound possess a mystical power capable of shaping both the physical and spiritual worlds.

Kotodama also offers glimpses into the nature of consciousness and the Soul it reveals.

Words and sounds are the DNA of communication; like love, connecting us.

Through the study of homophones, homographs, homonyms, heteronyms, definitions, and etymologies, we uncover truths about ultimate reality, the Soul.

Puns are more insightful than pundits.

Kotodama 121

We’re were: we are essentially as what we were.

Only when we break out of this delusional cycle can we be in the now.

 

Kotodama 119

Growing old is wonderful as long as you are growing.

Kotodama 120

The word with the greatest number of definitions is “set”, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The definitions and of “set” number more than 60,000 words. The vastness of “set” includes meanings ranging from mathematical collections, television equipment, athletic readiness (“ready, set, go!”) hardening concrete, breasts, predetermined arrangements, the act of placing something down, etc., etc., etc.

As what “set” means depends on context and relationship, “set” is virtually always simply understood; though not in all ways.

Yet, a complete understanding of “set” would be overwhelming, as “set” mirrors the complexity of completeness itself.

Kotodama 117

The hierarchy of males in a family:

The one below you is a boy.

Your equal is a bro.

Your superior is a motherfucker.

When a boy is treated like a boy, that’s a test.

If he accepts poor treatment, he can best aspire to be a bro.

If he fights back against the taunts, he’s showing signs he can be a motherfucker.

After enough fights, he has proven his genes, easily attracting girls. He’s the motherfucker.

Kotodama 116

Life is a simple labyrinth, leading to where we came from.

Thinking it’s a maze, it’s amazing.

Kotodama 113

The Everything is the ever-thing.

The invisible Soul is the ever, eternal.

The tangible now is the thing, temporary.

 

The Soul is before and after the now.

As before and after are indistinguishable, they are sole: one.

The Soul sees the now as one thing, the manifestation of the Soul.

Yet, within the now are an infinite number of everchanging things.

 

The Soul is the inside of a circle.

The now is the outside.

While seemingly mutually exclusive, they are mutually dependent as one cannot exist without the other.

Together, they are the ever-thing.

 

The Everything is also the ever-y-thing, or ever-why-thing.

The eternal question is “why does the now thing exist?”

There is no why, as all there is is the ever-thing.

Kotodama 110

Before and after the now, I am what I am.

In the now, I am who I am.

What is the unmanifested, potentially every thing.

Who is the What manifested by the breath of life.

In the circle of life, I am eternally What and temporarily Who.

The sound of Who is made by shaping our mouth into a small circle and thrusting the air from our lungs to fill the now with our presence.

Kotodama 111

The hole reveals the whole.

The now is a tiny hole revealing the Soul.

Kotodama 106

What are the possibilities?

Water, the possibilities!

Infinite forms, one essence.

Kotodama 104

Each of us is but a circle.

The soul is the peace within and the self is the piece without.

While peace is never without, the piece is always without.

Kotodama 7

The present is the pre-sent — the space where everything is before it is revealed in the now.

When we are present, every thing is absent.

In this emptiness, we can observe the now and come to realize we are the now.

Kotodama 83

He who needs to be important is impotent.

Kotodama 76

Overwhelmed, as the mass-age of information becomes the mess-age, we seek a message to massage us back in-formation.

Kotodama 79

The role affects the roll and the roll affects the role.

Kotodama 100

Life is a trail that ends where you started.

The trail is also a trial.

At the end, you’ve lost and one.

You’ve lost your self and are one with the soul.

Kotodama 75

Knowing is being; when you know the content you can be content.

Kotodama 93

As every thing is essentially energy, matter only matters when there is something the matter with us.

Kotodama 108

With inflation, every thing is a good buy; a goodbye to money as it become worth less.

Kotodama 62

Business is work; sometimes busy, sometimes not.

Jobs are busyness. While some jobs are hard work, all jobs require one to be busy trying to appear busy.

Kotodama 92

“M” is a vessel with one bucket,

“W” a vessel with two buckets.

We can carry more than Me.

Kotodama 99

Bodily death is the transition from being a piece of the universe to being at peace with the universe.

It is then we remember we are always part of the universe, only dreaming we were apart.

Knowing this piece of information about death brings peace to life.

Kotodama 49

“Piece” and “peace” are antonyms.

A piece is something separate from a whole.

Peace is when all pieces come together as a whole.

Kotodama 21

Man comes from heaven, is born as a dog, dies as a dog and returns to heaven as god.

 

A dog’s life begins with “d”. The letter “d” points to heaven, signaling its divine origin.

A dog’s life ends with “g”. The letter “g” sinks below the line, like a body buried in a grave.

As god, the journey reverses. We start with our resurrection from the grave, symbolized by “g”, and ascend to heaven — rising there from the upward pointing “d”.

The “o” in “dog” is a hole, emptiness. As animals, we endlessly seek, but are never fulfilled.

The “o” in “god” represents wholeness. The inside and outside of the “o” are mutually dependent, as one cannot exist without the other.

Realizing all things are one is the way to heaven.

 

In life, man’s best friend is said to be a dog, essentially his self.

But to transition to the afterlife, heaven, god is our guide.

 

Transitioning from dog to god is simple when we recognize we are an anadrome; both dog and god depending on which way we spell the word.

Kotodama 10

When i-luminate our lumin-essence, we are lumin-us.

Kotodama 2

It takes a prophet to make an extraordinary profit.

Kotodama 89

A way takes us away.

The Way brings us here and now.

Kotodama 27

Every thing is the progeny of light, yet light makes light of every thing.

Kotodama 91

The Ultimate Self (US) is all there is before, in and after the now.

While invisible before and after, in the now the Ultimate Self is manifested as the Individual Self (IS).

In the now, US IS.

Kotodama 98

When all things are holy, the universe is wholly.

Kotodama 97

Without the need to seek from without another piece,

we find within eternal peace.

Kotodama 96

When you recognize the soul,

two are too

two is one:

“an other” is “another”

“every thing” is “everything”

“in sight” is “insight”

“every where” is “everywhere”

“all ways” are “always”

“no thing” is “nothing”.

Kotodama 95

When the now is moving too fast, a fast turns fast into slow.

Kolodama 94

Every thing, a finite “I” to itself.

The universe is infinite I’s.

Letting go the possessive, the “I’s” are “is”; not things, a flow.

Kotodama 81

Nose knows no’s.

Intuition smells dangers.

Kotodama 42

U are who U are, a self in various roles in the play of life.

As the self is inevitably scripted out of the play, the play is a tragedy.

As the play unfolds in the everchanging now, your thoughts are nothing (O) but memories of the now.

 

U are what U are, the soul in the audience.

As the soul is always laughing at the self taking its memories seriously, the play is a comedy.

 

U are double U (W), soul and self, and nothing (O).

U are the soul before entering the play of life. Then, U are a self having an illusionary experience. In the final moments before U are scripted out of the play, U are the self viewing the play from a distance. Then, U are the soul again.

Knowing who and what U are, the play of life is WOW.

Kotodama 90

Me two or me too;

duality or unity,

self or soul.

Kotodama 88

The void is devoid; not empty, just nothing of which we are conscious.

The void is what’s before and after the now, waiting to appear in the now.

Kotodama 16

Each language has different sounds (words) that identify the same thing.

However, there are certain sounds that carry the same meaning across many unrelated languages.

This is called sound symbolism, or phono-semantics.

These sounds are a primordial reaction rooted in collective human consciousness.

For example, the sound made upon coming to an obvious realization (“ah”) and the sound of laughing (“ha”) at ourselves for not realizing it earlier.

“Ah” and “ha” are anadromes (words that spell different words when read backward). Simply looking at the same thing from opposite perspectives is the essence of wisdom.

Another example of sound symbolism is “wow”, a palindrome (a word read the same forwards or backward). “Wow” is a sound we make when something engages us, a love connection. The sound of “wow” is made by puckering our lips as when making a kiss.

“Wow” suggests love is a palindrome; what we express is expressed back.

Sounds reflecting wisdom and love are as primordial as wisdom and love.

Kotodama 87

Simple mantras:

I B I

I C U

Y R U

I R U

U B I

I am me.

I see you.

Why are you?

I am you.

You are me.

Kotodama 71

Without love, what looks like a loving marriage the French would call a mirage.

Kotodama 85

The words “new” and “now” look similar, for they describe the same thing.

New is unlike anything in the past. That’s being in the now.

Kotodama 84

Experiences light the way.

Perspectives make light of the way.

Kotodama 67

When past is passed, it is absent and we are present.

Kotodama 56

The historical is hysterical.

Self-serving stories are funny.

Kotodama 37

The personal self has many subsidiary selves, each with a different emotion.

The sole self — the soul — has only one emotion: love.

Kotodama 34

The mystical experience is seeing every thing shrouded in mist and realizing we are the light beyond the mist.

Kotodama 45

Sole, soul, sol.

One transcendent light.

The light reveals the soul.

Kotodama 57

“No know” is the way to “know no”.

When we realize that we know no thing, we can come to know nothing; the essence of every thing.

All that is in the now is nothing before and after the now.

Kotodama 13

As the mind does not sense, the sense it makes of our senses is nonsense.

Kotodama 20

The etymology of “universe” is “turned into one.”

The universe is not an infinite number of unique things. It is all things turned into one.

Thinking of the universe as separate and independent things is an illusion.

We dispense with illusions by undifferentiating them; describing each with one (uni) verse: it is what it is whatever it is.

When things are not differentiated, they are one thing: the universe.

Kotodama 59

“Soooo” is the sound of inhaling.

“Hmmmm” is the sound of exhaling.

Together, the cycle of breathing is “Soham”, a word in Sanskrit meaning “I am”.

Soham is a Hindu meditative mantra implying pure being; not a being (self), but ultimate reality (the Soul).

Soham: I am the Soul creating the self with my breath.

Kotodama 70

In contemporary society, traditional gender titles of Mr., Mrs., and Ms. are seen as self-limiting; as people view themselves in more granulated identities.

As words used to identify sexual identities often change, perhaps punctuations should be used for identities:

 

Female appearance:  (:)

Male appearance:  (;)

Straight:  (|)

Gay:  (\)

Bisexual:  (<>)

Trans  (\/)

Dominant Female:  (‘:)

Submissive Female:  (:’)

Dominant Male:  (‘;)

Submissive Male:  (;’)

Weird Female in public:  (“:)

Weird Male in public:  (“;)

Weird Female in private:  (:”)

Weird Male in private:  (;”)

Weird Female every which way:  (“:”)

Weird Male every which way: (“;”)

Undecided Person:  (?)

Materialistic:  ($)

Into group sex:  (#)

Sexually loyal:  (&)

Mental connection priority:  (i)

Physical connection priority:  (!)

Wants children:  (+)

Doesn’t want children:  (-)

Self-conscious:  (%)

Dreamer:  (*)

Religious:  (^)

Homebody:  (@)

 

For example, a person describing themselves as:

(“$^&’:@+) is a publicly weird materialistic religious loyal dominant female homebody interested in having children.

(‘;!<>#*”-) is a dominant male physically focused bisexual into group sex fantasies privately weird stuff and not interested in having children.

 

However helpful these categorizations may be, they are disconnected from the truth: every one is unique, yet shares a fundamental oneness.

We are not selfish identities.

We are God; yet, the devil is in the details which separate us from our essential unity as God.

 

Recognizing our unity, everyone could simply be referred to as “it”, an undifferentiating description.

This is how common people think of each other; witnessed the common greeting: “How’s it going?”

Kotodama 80

When you have presence you don’t need presents.

Kotodama 82

A shaman is a showman.

When your attention is focused outside your self, you are free from your self and its ills.

Kotodama 74

“Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.”

— Galileo Galilei

 

Man creates words to understand the universe.

The etymology of the word “number” is “to divide.”

 

Mathematics connects every thing.

Words divide everything.

God unifies, man divides.

Kotodama 72

I + Word = World

My word creates the world.

Kotodama 30

Who U are the self.

What U are the soul.

Together, the two U’s are W.

With the U’s, a hole is a whole.

Kotodama 47

Your is you’re.

All you have is that you are.

Kotodama 69

As U are U to me and I am U to U, all are Us.

Kotodama 65

“I”, “is”, and “time” are the most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun.

While these words never appear together as a sentence, “I is time” reveals what we are.

 

“I” implies a personal self that’s separate from all that is not the self.

“Is” (unlike the customary “am”) suggests being, not a being; a universal identity beyond the personal self.

Our universal identity is the Soul.

The Soul is what’s before and after the now.

In the now, the Soul is revealed.

“Time” is a concept that frames how the self perceives the now, as everchanging independent things; not as it is: timeless and interdependent.*

“I is time”: I, the self, am the Soul having a human experience.

 

I Is Time

Acronym: “I IT”

 

“I” am the now, an ever-moving light that passes over and reveals the Soul. The Soul is “IT”, a general noun for undifferentiated reality, ultimate reality.

“I IT”: I am the Soul.

 

“I IT”: Eye It

What I see is what I am.

Kotodama 48

A nation that gets into pissing contests and pisses off the world is a urine-nation.

Kotodama 64

As every thing we see is not a thing but a reflection of light, take things lightly.

Kotodama 44

It Is What It Is Whatever It Is.

Acronym: II-WII-WII (I why why?)

Why do I exist? Why is the universe?

There is no why; there are no things, no I, no universe.

All there is is is.

Is is what is is whatever is is.

Kotodama 41

The now is always the same and all ways different.

Kotodama 77

Heaven is “have-even”.

Heaven is before and after the now; where all things are even, as all are the undifferentiated Soul.

Kotodama 66

The eyes see the sea, what’s there.

The ears hear what’s here.

The nose knows.

Kotodama 53

When every day is holy, every day is a holiday.

Kotodama 52

Those who can explain “what it?” have wit.

Those who know “what is?” are wise.

Kotodama 40

Idol worshipers are idle.

They are not moving on the Way to oneness with the Everything, as they see some things sacred and others not.

Kotodama 51

Before time began, there was only God.

Time began when God had a son named Sun.

Sun’s progeny is light, the essence of everything.

When the light slows down by the speed of light squared, it transitions into matter.

Matter seems real, but is an illusion; as it’s essentially light.

The Timeless One knows this.

Kotodama 50

The tail wagging the dog is like a tale wagging a man.

Kotodama 36

Accepting is unity.

Excepting is duality.

Kotodama 43

We chase our tales like dogs chase their tails.

Kotodama 33

The inside of a circle: a hole.

The inside and outside: a whole.

Kotodama 4

You feel great when you are grateful because you are great-full.

Kotodama 5

The definition of passion is:

Emotion.

An intense or overwhelming feeling.

An outbreak of anger.

A strong desire for some activity, object, or concept.

Sexual desire.

 

The etymology of passion is suffering.

Kotodama 28

“Hap” (luck) is the root of happiness.

Happiness is realizing — however difficult our circumstances — we are lucky things aren’t worse.

We are also lucky as our circumstances are likely to get better with reversion to the mean.

Kotodama 26

Good evening.

Have a good transition to sleep-death, where all beings are even — equal.

 

Good morning.

Have a good time mourning the person you were yesterday, who is now no longer.

Dismissing memories of past lifetimes as only the dreams of someone who is not us, we are free to experience the now as it is.

 

Each day is not a day in a life, but a life in a day.

As we are lucky to be born anew every day, every day is a happy birthday.

Kotodama 58

Like the sole of a foot is the soul of a man, a rarely seen foundation.

Kotodama 60

Before time begins, all is the NON.

Upon birth, the I of the self and the NON become the NOW.

With the I of the soul, the NOW is a WOW.

 

The I of the self is red, symbolizing emotions. We experience the now through a myriad of selfish emotions.

The I of the soul is yellow; light, the essence of everything.

The experience of the NON, with the I of self and the I of the soul, is a WOW.

Kotodama 17

“i” is duality of body and mind.

“I” is integrity.

Kotodama 32

Children are, unlike adults, unadulterated.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

— Pablo Picasso

Kotodama 8

Upon awakening, every day is no longer everyday.

Kotodama 6

The Everything is no-thing and now-thing.

No-thing before and after the now-thing.

Kotodama 18

The Hebrew word for “life” is composed by two letter with numerical values of 8 and 10, based on their sequential order in the alphabet. Together, they sum to 18.

For Jews, the number 18 is symbolic of life.

Monetary gifts between Jews to celebrate various rites of passage (birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc.) are traditionally given in multiples of 18 ($18, $54, $180, etc.).

 

The number 18 reveals that life is both finite and eternal.

1 is finite as it’s drawn from top to bottom, from heaven to Earth, from birth to death.

8 is eternal as it’s continuous, with no beginning and no end.

In life, the eternal Soul is expressed as a finite self.

1 also implies that every thing is essentially one thing: the expression of the Soul. 8  implies every thing is interconnected.

 

Upon realizing all things are one interconnected kind of thing, we treat every thing as we want to be treated: with kindness. That’s compassion.

Our oneness with every thing allows us to view the world from infinite perspectives. That’s wisdom.

Wisdom and compassion are essential to celebrating life.

Kotodama 3

Life is a present received when we are present.

Kotodama 24

Hear here.

Sound is the presence of the now.

Kotodama 112

When stock market prices rise dramatically and unjustifiably based on the earnings prospects of companies, it’s called a bull market.

When prices precipitously fall, it’s called a bear market.

According to Investopedia: “The terms ‘bear’ and ‘bull’ are thought to derive from the way in which each animal attacks its opponents. That is, a bull will thrust its horns up into the air, while a bear will swipe down. These actions were then related metaphorically to the movement of a market. If the trend was up, it was considered a bull market. If the trend was down, it was a bear market.”

Alternatively, a bull market is like a bull charging at a matador’s red cape. The bull is charging ahead at something that seems real (like stocks with absurdly optimistic earnings prospects), but which ultimately is a mirage.

Likewise, a bear market is like a hibernating bear. The bear has no interest in eating delicacies — like stocks that are cheaply priced — because it is sleeping.

Kotodama 114

“I loved money and I loved children but couldn’t afford to have both. I chose to have children because they could love me back.”

— Sol Lieberman

 

This assumes something about our bond with our children: the children will pay us more interest than a Treasury Bond.

Kotodama 1

When the many become one, the pieces become peace.

Kotodama 23

The adage, time heals all wounds, suggests patients need patience.

Kotodama 39

When you are the pick of the litter yet pick the litter, you are not the pick of the litter.

Kotodama 14

According the Guinness Book of World Records, “drunk” holds the world’s record for the word with the most synonyms; as many as 2,241 and counting.

Apparently, when we’re drunk, we’re comfortable expressing ourselves with linguistic creativity.

When we’re not drunk, our descriptions are more limited and conventional; often failing to capture the nuances of how we feel.

Frustrated by our inability to creatively express ourselves when we’re sober is maybe why we get drunk.

Kotodama 9

Joy is when we are beckoned by the Soul and rejoice our oneness with the whole.

 

J is a finger calling us to come closer.

O is a hole — the now — that reveals the whole: the Soul.

Y is two paths — the way of the self and the way of the Soul — becoming one.

 

J is the masculine, looking like a penis.

O is the feminine, looking like the vaginal hole.

Joy is the moment when the two become one, as separation dissolves into unity.

Kotodama 11

Awakening

Ah…Aha…Haha…Hahahaha

Ah — joy.

Aha — realizing joy is the purpose of life.

Haha — laughing at the simplicity of this realization.

Hahahaha — laughing at how silly we were for not realizing this earlier.

Kotodama 55

We’ve read the word backward.

Man’s best friend is not the material (dog), but the transcendental (god).

Kotodama 31

Puns offer insights; pundits offer opinions.

Kotodama 35

“Real eyes realize real lies.”

— Tupac Shakur

Unlike our eyes, our mind can be fooled.