Tag: Spirituality

Where's my Sunshine Mountain???

NOT sunshine mountain

I’m writing right now in the book “Life As Prayer”  about something those of the Catholic tradition are more acquainted with, and that is, that negative (so-called) portions of our spiritual journey are really a normal part of the process.

Usually we tend to see them as problematic, or like something has gone terribly wrong. Or, perhaps, we’ve gone terribly wrong. Dark times, un-SUNSHINE MOUNTAIN times, are part of what God uses, and are quite positive, though they might not feel like it. Many people tend to think of God’s displeasure, or his withholding of blessing when they don’t feel his love, or are suffering, or not being blessed. Is it because we live in prosperity? Maybe. But even the ancient story of Job reveals that his friends thought the same mistaken things. 

I’m going to unpack Gloom Mountain, and take the teeth out of it. Spirituality encompasses these dark times too, and may be what best prepares us for what God has for us. After the dawn, new richness is revealed than could ever happen before.

I’ll share some tidbits as I move along. Freely share your experiences or thoughts, if you’d like. 

Have you felt pressure to be happy when you were not, because you thought God or others wanted you to?

Rebirth and colored eggs?

 

colored eggs
colored eggs

Today, I helped another mom guide 40 kindergartners in coloring 4 eggs a piece. One child was allowed to do the activity if the project revolved around the curriculum of dinosaurs, and was a dinosaur egg project, (that is, it wasn’t not related to Easter, or pagan rebirth symbol in some way.)

Spring is a time of rebirth. Easter is the only holiday Christians celebrate that retains its pagan name, and keeps certain pagan traditions (rabbits, eggs, feasting, gifts, candy, much of which references futility.) “Easter” (Ishtar) is a pagan Spring fertility Goddess. “Death and Resurrection Weekend” is probably too wordy for Christians to deal with, so it’s stayed “Easter”.

However, here it is important to see where some spiritual truths reverberate in and through multiple cultures in time and space. Like it or not, they reflect Truth, (a Being) and too, they carry with them the power of spirituality in symbols that reveal that which is universally true.

Sometimes the simplest reminder that spring brings new life can awaken us to the spiritual. God wants to redeem. The pictures are everywhere, once we start looking. God whispers through the workings of his world, and into the desires of our hearts to be re-created and refreshed. Is it any wonder that new life would be celebrated in Spring? I, for one, am happy to decorate some eggs, and chew on some chocolate rabbits.

When it comes to this time of year, what is the most spiritual thing for you?

Creator

 

_andrew_wyeth_paintingWinter, 1945

We’ll soon be making a trip to Chadds Ford, PA, the homestead of artist Andrew Wyeth–great American treasure, and recently deceased. The Brandywine Conservancy features a museum, and several home tours, gardens, artistic exhibitions, and events. 

The ability to create, not out of necessity, (as in a nest, den, or hive) but out of desire, touches on the spiritual side of humanity. It is a portal into the “unreasonable” parts of us–the beautiful mysterious.

For those of us who are creative or artistic, or even for those who can at least appreciate those ventures, there is something that lures us about creative pursuits. They are life-giving, both in the pursuit of them, and in the joys of the new experiences, and successes. It seems expressions of creativity point off the map to an even more solid Reality that transcends time and space, and envelops every culture in its realness.

A completely rational, sensible person would tell you there is no need for art perhaps. That it is a waste of time, effort, or money. Though, in a sense, there really is not enough reason for beauty qua beauty, yet, we see how much so many do care about it, at least in some form. (Film, fine art, sculptor, design, etc.)  See how much it moves us, and speaks to us, in language of its own, like nothing else can.

In every way in which we try to be creators we participate in something spiritual.

A question for you:

What have been your most life-giving creative pursuits?

Photography (art and the spiritual)

I’ve been drawn into visual images recently, both fine art creations such as paintings, drawings, etc. and also photography. Beauty is really a calling from the Divine. God is Beautiful. Also the epitome of beauty and perfection. For all people beauty is one of those eternal ideals we all are drawn to on some other level. Every culture prizes it. It harkens to something more, something off the map. Art may bring us in contact with our longing, and our connection to this great mystery.

I’m going explore it a bit more with photography. Perhaps with nature and portraits. It is not the external, surface of beauty, I will seek, but the essence, really the Socratic form of it.