He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

When we think of the word chaos we generally are referring to something like "orderless confusion" which is a usage from c.1600.

Meaning "utter confusion" is an extended sense from theological use of chaos in the Vulgate version of "Genesis" (1530s in English) for "the void at the beginning of creation, the confused, formless, elementary state of the universe." The Greek for "disorder" was tarakhe, but the use of chaos here was rooted in Hestoid ("Theogony"), who describes khaos as the primeval emptiness of the Universe, and Ovid ("Metamorphoses"), who opposes Khaos to Kosmos, the ordered Universe . . ." [OE]

Red Barron Pizza Box

We also have the mathematical branch of study called "Chaos theory" formalized c.1977, and famously referred to in the movie, Jurassic Park [based off the book by Michael Crichton]. 

Oh, it simply deals with predictability in complex systems. The shorthand is the butterfly effect. The butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. -Dr. Malcolm

Chaos theory, in short, is the study of,

. . . dynamical systems whose apparently random states of disorder and irregularities are actually governed by underlying patterns and deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Wikipedia, Chaos Theory

It is somewhat paradoxical in this sense[Chaos Theory] to use the word chaos to describe what is actually being governed, but the point is that it appears to be chaotic. Ah, what would we do without chaos in this sense? What a wonderfully boring world this would be. 

Chaos is from from Latin chaos, from the Greek khaos "any vast gulf or chasm, the nether abyss, empty space, the first state of the universe, from khaos "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty from *khnwos, from PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE]," or stem kha- to yawn, gape [OED]."

Kaw or caw, is the sound a crow makes. When a crow caws it opens its beak like a yawn or gape (kha-, *ghieh-). In fact the word crow is said to probably be imitative of the sound of the bird, as is raven ultimately. Raven which is from Old English hræven, initially a harsher more guttural sounding word, from the hypothesized PIE root *ker- "imitative of harsh sounds", also the source of Latin cornix "crow," corvis "raven," Greek korax, korōnē, koraki "raven, crow".

Cawing or Kha-ing Crow

Odin's ravens (Old Norse hrafn) Huginn "thought" and Muninn "memory, mind,"  made daily flights across the whole world and reported back to Odin everything they saw and heard. 

Huginn and Muninn

Perhaps the ravens also brought to mind that so called "chaos" at the beginning of the universe with their deep black pepla and fathomless black eyes. In Norse mythology this primordial abyss is known as Ginnungagap. It was the void or chaos which existed prior to the ordered universe or cosmos.

It was in the earliest times that Ymir dwelled. Neither sand nor sea, nor cold waves, nor earth were to be found. There was neither heaven above, nor grass anywhere, there was nothing but Ginnungagap. -Voluspa-Stanza 3, James Allen Chisholm translation

Ár var alda, pat er ekki var, vara sandr né sær né svalar unnar; jörd fannsk ævá né upphiminn, gap var ginnunga en gras hvergi. –Voluspa-Stanza 3 

In other translations gap var ginnunga is translated as "yawning gap," "yawning chaos," "chaotic chasm," "swallowing abyss," "abyss of chaos,"Yawning Chasm [chaos]," "Gaping Void," and "the great void," among others.

Yawn is from Old English ginian, gionian "open, the mouth wide, yawn, gape", from Proto-Germanic *gin-,  also PIE *ghieh-, like "chaos" from the same. 

Gap is taken directly from old Norse gap from PIE *ghieh-, as well. And Old Norse gina is "to yawn," old High German ginen "to be wide open," German gähnen "to yawn". So we see that the elements of the term Ginnungagap, however it is translated, has a double emphasis upon the concept of PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE].The words chaos, chasm, gap and yawn are all said to come from the same hypothesized PIE root *ghieh- "to yawn, gape, be wide open".

How did this apparent nothingness or abyss then evolve into the meaning of what we think of as chaos today?

It is strange that we think of something being chaotic when it has myriad disorganized and/or random parts, and yet the primordial abyss is the original sense of chaos. The primordial chaos seems to be more nothingness than chaotic. But when you think about it, the abyss is not really nothing, it is rather a womb of infinite potential in a state of perfect entropy, inert uniformity, or stasis. Otherwise, how could anything have arisen out of this "nothingness"?  It seems the original sense of chaos was the chaos of the infinite undefined. It could be anything, and in that sense, it was nothing. In this sense chaos is truly terrifying and awesome, perhaps NOTHING is more terrifying. 

This primordial abyss is often thought of as a huge black void, but it can also be pictured as limitless whiteness. Like a white room, representing nothingness, with a creator standing in the middle, as in the movie The Matrix.

Orpheus and Neo in a Simulation of Primordial Chaos

Or, on a less grand scale, a writer, artist, architect, musician, etc. begins a work in a state of utter chaos, that is, with a blank paper or canvas, where anything is possible, and that unlimited possibility is precisely the problem. Some might argue that the white room is an even more terrifying metaphor for chaos than utter blackness. Take this example from Herman Melvile's, Moby Dick, The Whiteness of the Whale,

Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man's soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught . . . 

Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows- a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink . . . – ch. 42: The Whiteness of the Whale, Moby Dick

The Greeks personified chaos as the primordial goddess, Χαος Khaos (Chaos). She was also interestingly associated with air and the creation of birds, or what we might call "caw"ers. In Aristophanes', Birds, Khaos is winged like Eros, and is the mother of the birds, the birds whose "origin is very much older than that of the dwellers in Olympus."[702]

Winged Nyx, Personification of Night

Here the chorus of birds speak,

Firstly, black winged Night [Nyx] laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus [darkness], and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang there graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos [Khaos], winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. –[695-699] Aristophanes. Birds. Eugene O'Neil, Jr. 1938

Ancient Egypt also had certain stories associating the beginning of time and creation with a bird called the Benu bird. The name, Benu (transliterated from the hieroglyphics as bnn), is said to be related to the verb weben (wbn) "to rise in brilliance, to shine". 

As an aspect of Atum, the Benu bird was said to have flown over the waters of Nun before the original creation. According to this tradition, the bird came to rest on a rock from which its cry broke the primeval silence and this determined what was and was to to be unfolding creation. - touregypt.net

It is said that this bird began time and drove back chaos.

Benu Bird Perched on the Benben Stone (Primordial Mound), or Pyramidion, Papyrus of Nakht, 18-19th Dynasty

This imagery is similar to the story of creation given in Genesis where the Spirit of God, moves over or "hovers"(like a bird), over the waters [Nun].

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2

In certain time periods Atum and Ra, were combined because they illustrate different aspects or mythologies concerning the same archetype of creator god. This type of merging happened frequently with the different gods and goddess of ancient Egypt over long periods of time. Remember, the time span of what we call ancient Egypt covers about three thousands of years, beginning around 3100 BC. Atum was first worshiped in Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, during this Predynastic Period, and Ra, came to be prominent by the fifth dynasty, between the 25th-24th centuries BC. 

So Ra, was also associated with the Benu bird, as was Atum. Ra or Rē (who's name was represented by the hieroglyph for "sun"), was the sun god, the light, like a "ray" perhaps, not unlike the Benu bird, the "shining"(wbn) one, who was, in fact said, to be the ba of Ra. The ba was an aspect of the soul represented as a birds. Birds were fitting representations for the soul because of their ability to fly and thus portray the mobility of the soul after death. 

Ba hovering over a dead man, from a Book of the Dead papyrus, British Museum

Apep or Apophis(Gk.), called "Lord of Chaos", was known as the enemy of Ra. He was pictured as a long snake. However Apep seems to be more a product of the original chaos, rather than the embodiment of that chaos itself. Or, we could say, Apep came to be as a consequence of creation which arose out of chaos.

The few descriptions of Apep's origin in myth usually demonstrate that it was born after Ra, usually from his umbilical cord. Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been interpreted as suggesting that Apep was not a primordial force in Egyptian theology, but a consequence of Ra's birth. . . Apep, wikipedia

It could be said that when Ra came to be, a duality or contrast also came to be. Whereas the primordial chaos had been a state of absolute equilibrium or "nothingness," once the light was created, the opposite of the light became darkness as opposed to light, and could then be labeled as evil. In ancient Egypt, Apep came to represent this concept called isfet (ízft), meaning "chaos, injustice, violence," or as a verb "to do evil." Isfet was opposed to ma'at "truth, order, harmony". Without the concept of light there is no judgment upon darkness as evil. Apep came to be after Ra, in this way. 

Set fending off Apep on the solar barque of Ra, 21st Dynasty, Book of the Dead, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Creation started with a "caw," that is, with the cry or call of the Benu bird, but can end with a cough. Having a cough sometimes is a sign of sickness which can precede death and one's being placed in a coffin. 

Cough is from early 14c., coughen, from Proto-Germanic *kokh- which is onomatopoeic, or imitative, as is also the ultimate origins of the words caw, cry, squeal, howl, yell and call.

Coffin is derived from latin cophinus "basket hamper", from Greek kophinos "a basket" which is of uncertain origin. I'd venture to guess, then, given the origin being from a word meaning "basket", that rather than being from an imitative sound, like those other similar sounding words relating to chaos, coffin is related instead to the letter K, as in kaf / kaph, a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is thought to be derived from a pictogram of an outstretched hand. The word kaph in Hebrew is "the hollow of the hand, palm of the hand, sole of foot; hollow, socket (as in of a joint); pan." So it has to do with the shape being curved, bent or cupped. And indeed the shape of the letter is a cupped shape. 

Kaf / Kaph

Maybe we could say say that the palm is the "basket (kophinos) of the hand" because it can hold items as a basket holds items.

And in Egyptian hieroglyphics kefa / kepha was a closed fist and had the meaning "fist, grab, grasp, seize, grip [also of mental concepts and of emotions], it was also apparently used to refer to the vagina. 

Kefa / Kepha

Interestingly enough "basket" is also a euphemism for lady parts. So, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, kepha (vagina) to coffin, or out of the basket you came, to the casket/coffin you shall return. 

The ancient Egyptian god Khepra / Khepri / Khepera / Kheper, (ḫprj), derived from the verb ḫpr "develop, come into being, create," and symbolized by the scarab beetle, kheper (ḫprr), was associated with the morning sun, creation, rebirth and transformation, so, indeed, it would be beneficial to be held in the grasp of this god (in the kepha [grasp] of the kaph [palm] of Khepra [the creator]) upon one's death to hopefully be born to new life. So this is in-kefa or kefa-in (coffin).

A coffin is a container like a basket or a cup. It, in some ways, mimics or is symbolic of the womb or primordial abyss from which we came, and the primordial abyss is often described as waters, such as the ancient Egyptian god Nu / Nun, who's hieroglyph contains the three (representative of many) pots, or might we say "cups"?

Nu/Nun

Cup is from Latin cupa "tub, cask, tun, barrel" it is thought to be cognate with Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave." So, this is similar, to Hebrew kaph in its meaning of "hollow." Cupa, also is cognate with Greek kype "gap, hole." Ahhh, so here we are back again to gap. Gap var ginnunga, the yawning chaos before time, or might we say kype (gap) of Nun, or "cup"(tub) of Nun? Nun, the limitless container of none or nothingness before time began, the sea of infinite potential. How different is this in concept, then, to the primordial womb out of which creation was birthed, i.e., chaos? Thus, it seems we could say there is a certain connection between the words cough and coffin. 

When people cough, not only do they make a "kha / caw" sound, but they also make something resembling a cave or a gap, as people do also when they yawn.

Cave is from Latin cavea "hollow"(place), a noun use of the adjective cavus "hollow", so again this is like kaph "hollow," the shape of a cupped hand, and kupah "hollow, pit, cave." However, the OE says cavus is from PIE *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole," as in the words cumulative and cumulus. I say, talk to the hand! 🙌

My great-grandfather, Frank Daywalt, was caught (past participle of catch from PIE *kap- "to grasp") in a cave in, in Cowenhoven Tunnel, Aspen, Colorado in 1921. I'm sure that must have been a chaotic scene. It did put him in a coffin and he probably died coughing, trying to cover his face with his kaph (cupped hand). As the report says, he was "caught by a run of fine dirt on the tunnel." Poor great-grandpappy! 

Frank Daywalt, May 9, 1876 - Nov. 9, 1921

And my grandmother was very young. What a dark time for her family! His absence must have created a huge void and a yawning gap in their hearts. But we won't call it evil, just very sad and unfortunate. We'd like to think that the creator has a plan, and what appears to be chaos is really ordered and purposeful. 

He's got the whole world in his hands. 

P.S. Serendipitously, my grandmother's father just happened to pop up in this etymological post which I just finished, and today is her birthday!! Born February 18, 1915. She died 35 years ago in February of 1986. So, I have to include a picture of her as well. Happy Birthday Bam [short for Bambi, her nickname]! RIP <3

né Catherine Yvonne Daywalt, [photo]Feb. 5, 1956

Kala the Wild

In this modern age of smart phones we might think of the word "call" as being a really ordinary word. I make lots of ordinary phone calls. I call people I don't even want to talk to, in order to make appointments for things that I wish I didn't have to, like getting braces for my kids. I call about these things, yet these things do not call to me. Like a wolf howling to the sky at the full moon those things do not summon me. We are animals filled with longing. We long for the beauty, goodness and pleasantness with seems to elude us in this life. The wild softly summons us with its melody to teach us about beauty; a true beauty that is not found in the world, but rather in the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts. The call of the wild in our hearts is tinged a mournful tune until we reach paradise. 

In Old Norse kalla is "to cry loudly," and kaleó καλέω in Ancient / Koine Greek is "call, invite, summon."

Calls can be made with flutes or pipes. Reed pipes are often portrayed in Ancient Greek art. "Reed, reed-pen, measuring rod" in Greek is kalamos κάλαμος (kalama Sanskrit, calamus Latin).

A bird's song is also said to be its call. They are often beautiful songs like the call of the Calandra Lark. Calandra / Kalandra is derived from the Ancient Greek name for the lark, i.e., kalandros. It is a bird found around the Mediterranean and eastwards though the area that was once known as Mesopotamia and north into Scythia, which is Southern Russia. Its habitat is open plains, steppes and pastures. Syrinx is the name for the vocal organ of birds, i.e., the lower part of their windpipe.

Syrinx Σύρινξ was a beautiful wood (in Cornish, celli "wood") nymph who was pursued by the god Pan, though reluctantly. A Pan Pipe, is a type of reed pipe which is called a syrinx. In mythology Pan made the syrinx / Pan pipe from the reeds which Syrinx, his object of desire, was turned into. 

    Pan Pipes/Syrinx

She was turned into reeds to escape Pan. Then when Pan heard the soft sound of the wind whistling / singing over the reeds he made a flute out of them to have her with him. Perhaps the music of the pipes reminded Pan of his yearning for Syrinx and her beauty, kalós "beautiful, good, noble" in Ancient Greek, origin of the name Kala. But perhaps he also thought her callous for refusing his advances.

    Pan and Syrnx, Jean Francois de Troy 1722-1724, J. Paul Getty Museum

Because of Pan's pursuit and desire for her, Syrinx was transformed into a reed (kalamos) quite a calamity for her.

You know Syrinx disregarded fiery Kythereia[Aphrodite], and what a price she paid for her too-great pride and love of virginity; how she turned into a plant with reedy growth substituted for her own, when she had fled from Pan's love, and how she still sings Pan's desire! -Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 363 ff

The "place of reeds" in ancient Egyptian mythology was considered to be heaven, the best place, paradise. It was called Aaru and was described as a field of reeds in the east, where the sun rises. Aaru jꜣrw has the meaning of "rushes, reeds" in ancient Egyptian.

For the Greeks the best place, heaven, was called the Elysian Fields, a place of plenty and blessedness. Perhaps it was like Cana, insofar as it was a happy place, like Cana, the location of the wedding festival and Jesus' first miracle in the bible. Cana is from Greek Kana Κανά and is said to mean "place of reeds" likely taken from Hebrew qaneh "reed, stalk, cane, rod, branches." 

This(i.e., reeds being associated with the good), is reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian nefer, nfr hieroglyph. The nefer hieroglyph was used to represent the ancient Egyptian concept of beauty / the beautiful / goodness. The symbol is generally believed to represent a stylized sheep's heart(due to its markings) + trachea / windpipe ("reed"). So we could say it is a symbol with something like a kalamos (reed)," and has a similar meaning to kalós (beautiful / good). But what does this symbol have to do with beauty? 

    nfr - nefer

There is not a clear explanation of the origin of this symbol. However, it had many extended meanings and the specific shape was used for amulets, jewelry and other objects, as well as the hieroglyph. The symbol did not just mean beauty and goodness as a word, it also conferred meaning through its form. So what was it representing through its form?

It seems possible that it could have represented something like *the word of the god expressed from the calling of his heart*.

A word is spoken from the larynx located in the trachea. In Egyptian mythology it was said that the primordial god Ptah conceived of creation in his heart and spoke it into being through his mouth. And it is not just any word that comes from the mouth of God, it is the Perfect word . . . and that Word is the Beautiful and the Good, i.e., nefer. 
It is said that word's come from the wellspring of the heart.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good(nefer), and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance* of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

The mouth speaks what overflows (*perisseumatos περίσσευματος "abundance, overflow") or comes out of the heart. The heart was viewed as seat of the personality in ancient Egypt. So in this way the heart and trachea can be said to be connected. However, why then a sheep's heart and not a human heart for the symbol?

Khnum/Khnemu ḫnmw (from ḫnm meaning "to join, unite; build"), the god of the waters, and thus also the silt which formed the fertile soil and clay of the Nile Delta region, was the "Divine Potter" who created man out of clay on his potters wheel and placed them in their mothers wombs. He was depicted with the head of ram (ba is "ram" in Egyptian, and ba was also "soul," being one of the five aspects the soul). So the nefer symbol had a ba heart, i.e., a ram's heart, which would also call to mind the ba "soul". 

    The Ba of the dead person hovers over his mummy clutching a shen-ring

In later periods Amun / Amon / Amen-Ra(the "concealed/hidden" one) took prominence as the chief creator god. Amun was also sometimes depicted as a ram, or with a ram's head. So the chief god was depicted as a ram (sheep) therefore it would not be too far out to say that the sheep's heart in the nefer symbol represented the heart of God. Then the whole symbol would represent that which proceeds from the sacred heart, i.e., beauty / goodness.

In Hebrew towb/tobe/tov/tova means "good, better, best, beautiful, pleasant, agreeable, sweet". The Lord(Yah) is Towb where we get the name Tobiah / Tobias(towb + yah). So, towb is used to describe God, and it is also used to describe the knowledge of the tree in the Garden of Eden. The tree in the midst of the garden was called "the Tree of the knowledge of towb and ra'".

Calista / Kalistos, means "fairest, most beautiful" in Greek, she was a nymph who took a vow to remain a virgin, however Zeus disguised himself as Artemis (Diana) to lure her into his embrace. She then became the mother of Arcas and ended up being turned into a bear. 

    Diana and Calysto 1559 Titian, national Gallery of Scotland 

Now Calista resides in the heavens as the Great Bear(momma bear), Ursa Major.

Calla lily means "beautiful flower," also called Arum Lily, "naked flower," Trumpet Lily, and Pig Lily. The Calla Lily, although considered to be neither a true calla nor a true lily, is said to be "naked" achlamydeous (literally "without a cloak") in botany because it is lacking petals and sepals. 

    Calla Lilly, Zantedeshia aethiopica

Calla Lilies are often used at both weddings and funerals. They are generally considered to be symbols of purity and rebirth. Yet they remain somewhat bawdy in their "nakedness". . . or at least alluring. 

Nefertem was the ancient Egyptian god who represented the lotus flower which arose from the primordial waters. He was known as "He who is beautiful" and Water-lily of the Sun," he was the morning aspect of Ra blooming / reborn as the Nymphea cerulea, Blue Water lily / Egyptian Lotus, every sunrise. 

    Nymphea cerulea- Blue Water Lily/Egyptian Lotus

He was associated with the beautiful scents of the lily and other flowers, and with the first morning sunlight. The Blue Water Lilly arises each day out of the murky, muddy depths, beautiful and alluring. 

Calidus  means "warm, hot" in Latin, and calor is "heat", from

PIE root *kele-(1) "warm." Warm is good and beautiful (kala) when you have been out in the cold and finally come in and take a nice soak in the hot tub or cozy up by the fire. Warm is like home.

    The Runaway Bunny, pictures by Clement Hurd- "I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you." - photo by Julie O. /chtonickore

In her more gentle aspects, Kali is a mother goddess. However, she is a mother who is able to fiercely protect her children. Kali means "the dark / black one," she who is "beyond time." She is associated with Shakti "Power, Empowerment" (from shak "to be able", ie., can, from Old English cunnan "be able, know, have power, Old Frisian kanna) and is the goddess of time and change. She is the counterpart of Shiva, the destroyer, who is called Kala meaning "time, black/dark, death. Her name, Kali, comes from kala.  

    The Goddess Kali standing on Lord Shiva

Kali is kind of beautiful (kala) despite being so wild and foreboding. And from the look on Shiva's face I'd say he was enjoying his predicament. Perhaps he finds something about Kali's fiery nature alluring. She is a woman who can get things done. Maybe he's met his match, Caliente!

I am dark but beautiful, O Daughters of Jerusalem- dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon's tents. Song of Solomon 1:5

Lovers yearn for each other. The beloved calls to the beloved. They are consumed by their love for each other. This can lead to the end or destruction of one, or the other. Kaleh in biblical Hebrew is translated as "yearn," from kalah "finished, annihilate, accomplished, been consumed, complete, destruction, devoured, at an end." An encounter with Kali can definitely bring a man to kalah (destruction). Time to meet your maker. But that's not always a bad thing, right? To discover or become the Shiva or Christ within, a certain destruction is necessary.

Amen, Amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto eternal life. John 12:24-25

Kali is beautiful, yet fierce, like a shrill battle cry that invokes dread or the terrible drone of the bagpipe.
In fact the Old Irish meaning of Caellach (one possible origin of the name Kelly) is "war, strife, lively, aggressive," and Old Norse kalla is "to cry loudly".

Kali seduces you to your destruction.

    Siren with Reed Pipe/Aulos and Cane(?)- Thomas Bulfintch, The Age of Fable, 1897

Sirens were dangerous yet beautiful. To listen to their call meant death. They lured men in with their enchanting mournful song, then the unwary travelers were dashed against the rocks, shipwrecked, or simply driven into a deadly torpor. The voyagers were so high on beauty, they would forget how to do anything, neither steer their boats, nor even eat, to their ultimate demise.

    Seiren, Agent of Death

Siren (Seiren Gk.) is possibly from Greek seira "chord, rope," meaning something like "entanglers, binders." They lure or rope you in with their eloquent song, and  then you wither up and die. Searian is Old English "dry up, to wither". 

Kalupto/Kalypto has the meaning "to cover, veil, hide, conceal, envelope; deceive" in Ancient Greek. Calypso Καλυψώ "she who conceals." 

    Odysseus  and Calypso, Arnold Bocklin, 1883, Swiss Symbolist Painter

Odysseus was seduced and drawn in by Calypso, but after a while came the apocalypse from Greek apokalyptein "uncover, disclose, reveal." After the dis-clothes-ing or unrobing and consummation of his desire he realized that he needed to leave that place and get back home to Penelope. He did not feel called to be Calypso's immortal husband.

Sometimes an unveiling can feel like the end of the world.

Jesus called ("kaleo") his disciples and they left their former lives to follow him. However, he was actually leading them to their death. Was this a good or bad thing? You be the judge of that, but make no mistake, they were never going to be the same. You could say that Jesus was a destroyer (Shiva) and deceiver (Calypso). He lured in his apostles when the mission was concealed (kalypto). He preformed all sorts of wonderful miracles, was eloquent, and was and all round awesome guy . . . then bam-o! He's being crucified, and the apostles are scared out of their wits. Afterwards most of them ended up being tortured and killed. But that revelation (apokolypsis) came after the initial calling / seduction, and then it was already too late. They were hooked.  

Pieter Pierterz the Elder c 1569, Dutch Renaissance painter, Death of St. Peter and St. Paul

However, the purpose of it all was salvation, to partake in Christ and to become God. We are called to share in Christ's nature and become gods.

The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. -St. Thomas Aquinas, Opuscula 57:1-4. From Catechism of the Catholic Church 460

In ancient Egypt the shen hieroglyph was a stylized rope with a loop in it, meaning "protection." In the ancient world the shen-ring was a symbol representing eternal protection. The shen is a place enclosed, like "paradise" from ancient Greek paradeisos "park, garden, paradise," from an Iranian source similar to Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park"[OE].

Here is an image of Inanna or some say,  or Lilith (Hebrew "night demon," possibly related to the Babylonian concept of the Mesopotamian Lilitu, a class of female demons) holding two shen rings.

    Queen of the Night/Burney Relief, Mesopotamian terracotta, c.1800-1750 BC, British Museum, London, shown with shen rings

The Hebrew letter ש shin/sin can represent fire (esh / aysh) and Shekinah שכינה‎(from the verb shaken meaning settle down, abide, dwell.") Shekinah is a grammatically feminine name used to denote the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. 

Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Exodus 24:17

      Letter Shin (reminiscent of a Cala Lily, and also a candelabra, trident, or wings?)

The shin is said to stand for Shaddai "Almighty," one of the names of God that YHWH gave of himself to Abraham, "I am God All Mighty [El Shaddai]; walk before me and be blameless (Genesis 17:1)," from the root shadad "destroyer." It is indicated in the posture of the hands in the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim).

    Priestly Blessing- Mosaic at Synagogue of Enschede(detail), Netherlands

Why would God come down and dwell with men?

"For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage." Deut 32:9

One's dwelling place is his home and his portion. God's home, his heaven, place of rest (shabbat) is with his people. And the home of his people is with God. Heaven is the home of their desire / heart.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul …  Lam 3:24

Remember heaven is Aaru, the Field of Reeds (aaru). And Cana has the meaning "place of reeds." Late Latin canna is "reed," it also has the meaning "small vessel / gondola." Maybe this is canna in the sense of a safe enclosure, like the haven of the reed barque of Ra, or a home in the eternal abyss / waters.

Papyrus Reed Solar Barque (Barque of Ra), on pt "sky/heaven" glyph, at gateway to Nuit / Nut (goddess who is the starry night sky)

There is something about eternity that is really quite frightening. It's just SO big! We might actually choose to keep / confine ourselves to one portion of it. However, we don't want that portion to be a prison (like Calypso's island). In Hebrew kala also has the meaning of "shut up, restrain, withhold." And from this kala comes the word kele "prison, confinement, imprisonment." When parents try to protect their children they may put their own "shen" protective ring around them, but it can seem a bit like a prison. Maybe more like a lasso rope than the shen. Cloister is perhaps a little more of a benevolent word than prison, being from Latin claustrum "enclosure, place shut in," but still, what we desire is heaven, a paradise, so it would have to be the perfect enclosure; the cloister that is in NO anyway confining, but more like perfection; an un-cloister, or un-prision (more like Disneyland). 

 NASA MODIS compound photo, 2002. Spaceship Earth is our Cloister in the Abyss of Space, but feels like an Un-Cloister. Earth is Not a Prison Planet

Maybe like a perfect / ideal marriage or union, i.e., a binding that does not bind or limit. Instead it is comfort, the heart's desire, beauty (kala, nefer, towb), and protection, i.e., a home, om, eternal dwelling place, where we are "limited," but only to goodness. 

"Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:3-4

Yes, f*ck the chaos. I would like to retire to a beautiful paradise, or heaven Earth when I'm done with all this.

Amen!