What is Creation Spirituality: Fear
Essential Two:
It is through the work of spiritual practice that we move beyond fear into compassion and discover our deep and true selves.
It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha’s extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, “What are you? Are you a god? “No” said the Buddha. “Well then, are you some kind of wizard?” Again the Buddha answered, “No.” “Well my friend, then what are you?” asked the man. The Buddha replied, “I am awake.”
Creation Spirituality is a framework that says we’ve never fallen from grace; we’ve just forgotten it; we must wake up to what lies within in order to really see what lies right in front of us. The idea of spirituality as letting go instead of adding on, runs counter-intuitive to most of us raised in the Western Christian tradition. We have bought into the consumer-driven ideals from our culture that we must have more, climb higher, buy a bigger house or a fancier car to be acceptable. The medieval Creation mystics believed that our life journey was not so much a matter of addition but subtraction. Since we are born as original blessings, union with the divine is not about getting something that we don’t already have. Our deep work is about letting go of pretenses, ego, and the trappings of our religion and culture.
Theologians talk about this kind of spirituality as apophasis, the practice of un-saying rather than saying; letting go rather than adding on; listening for the still, small voice within rather than filling our monkey brains with dogmas, liturgies, and ideas. A spirituality of unsaying can be achieved through many practices such as contemplative prayer, dream interpretation, body work, art as meditation, dance, etc.
Of course, this kind of spirituality has implications for how we also encounter the environment. Are the oceans and continents objects to be pursued or sacred entities to be hallowed?
We all have to live on the planet and at some level consumerism is unavoidable. But what if we set out to leave as small of a footprint as possible, to get out of the way and let Mother Earth thrive in her own natural rhythm?
Creation Spirituality recognizes that there is a profound connection between the Earth and the commitment we make to the deep dive of our own spiritual journey. Without the commitment of spiritual practice and the deep work to discover our true selves, we cannot move beyond objectification and fear into compassion for ourselves, our communities, other humans, all sentient beings, and for Cosmos itself.
Indeed, everything is connected.
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Read Essential Three: The spiritual journey.
Read An Introduction to Creation Spirituality.
By special guest contributor, Rev. Dr. Sid Hall.
