The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
The Via Positiva–What We Can Learn
From the Works of Creation |
07/26/2023
by Rick
Reich-Kuykendall |
All of the quotations today come from
the book that started it all: Original Blessing, lauded as one of the “20 books that changed the world” in New Age Journal‘s Annual Source Book for 1995. Geologian Thomas Berry wrote that it offers a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world…a remedy for the deep personal and cultural pathologies …which have led us to assault the natural world in such a disastrous
manner. |
What do the following nuggets of wisdom from Original Blessing say to you right now? Creation itself,
and not just books,
is a source of truth and revelation. The word ‘humility’ comes from
the word humus or earth.
In the creation tradition, then, | Nature overtaking the ruins of the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East in the heart of London. Photo © Chris White, Adobe
Stock. |
to be humble means
to be in touch with the earth,
in touch with one’s own
earthiness,
and to celebrate the blessings that
our earthiness, our sensuality, and our passions are. When you build your basic understanding
of the universe on nature’s cycles
(as the creation-centered tradition does)
rather than on a mythical past state of perfections
(as the fall/redemption tradition does)
you learn to reverence change and process. |
"The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise,” fresco painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. Wikiwand. | The fall/redemption tradition tends to identify death with sin, as if death came into the world as a result of sin. But a reasonable meditation on creation |
would not come to this conclusion at all. In fact, what we learn by examining nature is
that all things have their
cycles
of life, death, and transformation. In nature, in creation,
imperfection is not a sign
of the absence of God.
It is a sign that the ongoing creation
is no easy thing.
We all bear scars from this rugged process.
We can—and must—celebrate scars. |
See Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 37-38, 59, 85, 110-111 Banner Image: Resurrection: a dead log becomes an ecosystem in Alberta, Canada. Photo by Phila Hoopes, used with permission. |
Queries for Contemplation Contemplate these quotations and choose the one which resonates most clearly with you. |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our
website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Matthew Fox lays out a whole new
direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way. “Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme in an online course hosted by The Shift Network: "Science, Spirituality & the Noosphere: Find Deeper Meaning in Our Spiritual Traditions With Illuminating Insights in Science & Technology,” beginning August 8. Register
HERE and receive access to a free introductory video. Join Matthew Fox for a Cosmic Mass and Panel Forum at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions - A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights, August 14-18 in Chicago, IL Wed., 8/16, 7:00pm CT - The Cosmic Mass - Honoring Gaia, Solidarity for Our Earth Thurs., 8/17, 1:00pm CT – Panel and Response to The Cosmic Mass Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On
Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries
of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. | |
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