Creation Spirituality Talks and/or Retreat
I have talks and retreat materials based on the ideas and writings of Meister Eckart, Hildegard of Bingen, Teilhard de Chardin, and Matthew Fox. As modern, Western people we have lost much of our recognition of honoring all of creation as Original Blessing, Creation Spirituality integrates the wisdom of Eastern and Western spirituality and global indigenous cultures, with the emerging scientific understanding of the Universe, and the passion of creativity.
Creation Spirituality provides a solid foundation and holistic perspective from which to address the critical issues of our times, including the revitalization of religion and culture, the honoring of women’s wisdom, the celebration of hope in today’s youth, and the promotion of social and ecological justice. Creation Spirituality, therefore, is not a new religion but is concerned with renewing theologies and practices that promote personal wholeness, planetary survival, and universal interdependence. It is both a tradition and a movement, celebrated by mystics and agents of social change from every age and culture.
The backbone of the Creation Spirituality tradition is its naming of the spiritual journey in the Four Paths, which parallel the cycles of the four seasons. It invites us to be participants in the circle of life—being filled with awe and wonder, feeling our pain and losses, exuding creativity, and persisting as justice makers.
The Four Paths also address the question: Where will the experience of the Divine be found in our time? Creation Spirituality responds: the Divine will be found in these places:
In the Via Positiva—In the awe, wonder, and mystery of nature and all beings, each of whom is a “word of God,” a “mirror of God that glistens and glitters,” as Hildegard of Bingen put it. This is Path One.
In the Via Negativa—In darkness and nothingness, in the silence and emptying, in the letting go and letting be, and in the pain and suffering that constitute an equally real part of our spiritual journey. This is Path Two.
In the Via Creativa—In our generativity we co-create with God; in our imaginative output, we trust our images enough to birth them and ride them into existence. This is Path Three.
In the Via Transformativa—In the relief of suffering, in the combating of injustice, in the struggle for homeostasis, for balance in society and history, and in the celebration that happens when persons struggling for justice and trying to live in mutuality come together to praise and give thanks for the gift of being and being together. This is Path Four.
Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality:
1. The Universe, and all within it, is fundamentally a blessing. Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.
2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. This is panentheism in which we experience the Divine in all things and all things are in the Divine.
3. God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as the God in history, as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings. We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.
4. In our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find our deep and true selves. Through the arts of meditation and silence we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear into compassion and community.
5. Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:
We weave through these paths like a spiral danced not a ladder climbed.
6. Every one of us is a mystic. We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover it at any age.
7. Every one of us is an artist. Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is our prayer and praise (Via Creativa).
8. Every one of us is a prophet. Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).
9. Diversity is the nature of the Universe. We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.
10. The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion. We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one another's joys and grieve at one another's sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.
11. There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected from these wells is Deep Ecumenism which respects and embraces the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the sacred traditions of the world.
12. Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth. Ecology is the local expression of cosmology. An outflow of Creation Spirituality is the commitment to live in light of this value and to pass on the beauty and health of creation to future generations.
Creation Spirituality provides a solid foundation and holistic perspective from which to address the critical issues of our times, including the revitalization of religion and culture, the honoring of women’s wisdom, the celebration of hope in today’s youth, and the promotion of social and ecological justice. Creation Spirituality, therefore, is not a new religion but is concerned with renewing theologies and practices that promote personal wholeness, planetary survival, and universal interdependence. It is both a tradition and a movement, celebrated by mystics and agents of social change from every age and culture.
The backbone of the Creation Spirituality tradition is its naming of the spiritual journey in the Four Paths, which parallel the cycles of the four seasons. It invites us to be participants in the circle of life—being filled with awe and wonder, feeling our pain and losses, exuding creativity, and persisting as justice makers.
The Four Paths also address the question: Where will the experience of the Divine be found in our time? Creation Spirituality responds: the Divine will be found in these places:
In the Via Positiva—In the awe, wonder, and mystery of nature and all beings, each of whom is a “word of God,” a “mirror of God that glistens and glitters,” as Hildegard of Bingen put it. This is Path One.
In the Via Negativa—In darkness and nothingness, in the silence and emptying, in the letting go and letting be, and in the pain and suffering that constitute an equally real part of our spiritual journey. This is Path Two.
In the Via Creativa—In our generativity we co-create with God; in our imaginative output, we trust our images enough to birth them and ride them into existence. This is Path Three.
In the Via Transformativa—In the relief of suffering, in the combating of injustice, in the struggle for homeostasis, for balance in society and history, and in the celebration that happens when persons struggling for justice and trying to live in mutuality come together to praise and give thanks for the gift of being and being together. This is Path Four.
Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality:
1. The Universe, and all within it, is fundamentally a blessing. Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.
2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. This is panentheism in which we experience the Divine in all things and all things are in the Divine.
3. God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as the God in history, as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings. We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.
4. In our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find our deep and true selves. Through the arts of meditation and silence we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear into compassion and community.
5. Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:
- awe, delight, amazement (known as the Via Positiva)
- uncertainty, darkness, suffering, letting go (Via Negativa)
- birthing, creativity, passion (Via Creativa)
- justice, healing, celebration (Via Transformativa)
We weave through these paths like a spiral danced not a ladder climbed.
6. Every one of us is a mystic. We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover it at any age.
7. Every one of us is an artist. Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is our prayer and praise (Via Creativa).
8. Every one of us is a prophet. Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).
9. Diversity is the nature of the Universe. We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.
10. The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion. We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one another's joys and grieve at one another's sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.
11. There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected from these wells is Deep Ecumenism which respects and embraces the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the sacred traditions of the world.
12. Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth. Ecology is the local expression of cosmology. An outflow of Creation Spirituality is the commitment to live in light of this value and to pass on the beauty and health of creation to future generations.
Image credit: rozum / 123RF Stock Photo
