The Holy Chit of Consciousness

The infamous Joseph Campbell’s famous phrase was “Follow Your Bliss”. Joseph Campbell is quoted as saying, “I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence:  Sat-Chit-Ananda. The word "Sat" means being. "Chit" means consciousness. "Ananda" means bliss or rapture.”

Campbell’s focus was on Ananda, or Bliss. His reference to the Sanskrit terms in a movie called, Finding Joe, got me thinking entirely about Chit, or Consciousness.Chit, pronounced aloud, sounds very much like the word shit. 

Now, I promise you that I say this with all due respect. No offense meant and I hope none taken. In the moment that I realized the similarity in pronunciation, I had a moment of Chit.One of our favorite American (perhaps universal) expressions is, “Holy shit”. Since watching Finding Joe, I am convinced that what we really mean is “Holy Chit” or “Holy Consciousness”.

Think about it. You just realized that you are on the wrong bus. Holy Chit. You just learned that your best friends are getting married. Holy Chit.I have to admit that if I liked the expression before, I am in love with it now. It is reverently designed for a moment of consciousness that requires an exclamation. It is not a vulgar, improper expression or expletive. Rather, it is a moment of Consciousness and we've honored it so by placing the word “Holy” in front of it. We've just been spelling it wrong all these years! (Holy Chit!)I’m sure I’m not the first person to consider this and I won’t be the last. I never could figure out why we would want to make shit holy and now I get it. I really get it. A moment of divine consciousness. So it can never be anything but Holy Chit from now on and spoken with the reverence it deserves.

The next time your teenager mispronounces it, feel free to correct him or her.  The next time someone yells at you, “Holy shit, what do you think you’re doing?” realize that a moment of consciousness has been activated and actually start thinking about what you’re doing. It’s a moment of consciousness, a blessing. 

Now, if I could only find the true meaning behind all the other expletives we use every day, I’d be a happy woman, and then again, maybe some expletives are just that, designed not to provoke any thought or consciousness and no further explanation is needed.