February 24, 2010

Ten Principles of Creation Spirituality

1.   The universe is a blessing, that is, something God created and we experience as “very good.”

2. Humans need to relate to the universe as a whole as we are a microcosm of that macrocosm.

3. Everyone is a mystic, born full of wonder and capable of recovering it at any age and of not taking the awe and wonder of existence for granted.

4. Everyone is a prophet, a ‘mystic in action’ who is called to interfere with what interrupts authentic life. We are called to the margins of the status quo to interrupt systems that marginalize other humans, creatures and our Mother, the Earth.

5. Everyone is an artist. Art as meditation is a primary form of prayer for releasing our images and empowering the community and each of us. Art finds its fulfillment in ritual, the community’s art.

6. Everyone and everything expresses divinity. All humans are all children of God; therefore, we have Divine blood in our veins and the Divine breath in our lungs; and the basic work of God is Compassion.

7. Divinity is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much Godhead [mystery] as God [history], as much beyond all beings as in all beings.

8. We experience the Divine in all things and all things are in the Divine. This mystical experience supplants the experience of the Divine as separate and unattainable.

9. Humans have to dig and work at finding the deep self, the true self, the spirit self. This is the spiritual journey. It is not so much about “adding on” as it is “letting go.” If we do not undergo the spiritual journey, we live superficially out of fear or greed or addiction or someone else’s expectations of us.

10. The spiritual journey is an ever-expanding spiral encompassing four paths.

Ø     Via Positiva: Befriending Creation – wonder, delight, revelry

Ø     Via Negativa: Befriending Darkness – emptiness, sinking, suffering

Ø     Via Creativa: Befriending Our Sacredness – creating, awakening, birthing

Ø     Via Transformativa: Befriending New Creation – coming home, doing, justice

A Spiritual Journey

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home.

~ Wendell Berry ~

Ø   Think:  your life was given to you for a reason, and you are the only one that can do those things that God made you for. 

Ø   Pray:  for friends that will help you along your journey. 

Ø   Do:  seek out the path for your life, be strong, help others, be kind to the earth and in the quiet times – listen.

I found a video about the “Garbage Island” that exists in the Pacific Ocean.  This island basically consists of all the plastic that the people throw away.  The plastic breaks down in the water creating a soup of toxic chemicals that floats just below the water.  The health of the oceans and the all the creatures that inhabit that ocean is threatened.  The very existence of some creatures is held in the balance.  The video is broken down into 3 segments that are approximately 20 minutes long.  Please note that the video has some offensive language.  The important segments are #1 and #3.  Segment #2 is mostly about the boredom that comes about by being on a 50’ boat for three weeks.  My suggestions is that you look at the videos with your parents and discuss your families use of plastic, how you can do more recycling, and how you can cut down on all things that are plastic. 

Let me know what you think.  Here’s the web site:

http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/toxic-garbage-island-1-of-3--4

Final Thought:  

Imagine carrying a trash bag around with you for a single day and collecting everything you throw away.  What the average people will throw away is a surprising 5lbs per person.  This includes paper, metal, plastic and other materials daily.  Over a lifetime a person will throw away approximately 50 tons!  For the country as a whole, this amounts to about 1 billion pounds of solid waste every day. 

What do you throw away and what do your recycle?