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Posted: April 19th, 2007 at 1:26am By: Anne E. Ulvestad
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7).
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
Since God created us with the Word, with truth, and one way of perceiving truth is through dialogue, or interaction - and, as I wrote in my column of last week, dialogue helps us find ourselves when we see ourselves reflected in the Other — then our response to this truth is to reflect back beauty, awakening the senses of the Beloved as we ourselves were awakened when, with the breath of life, we became a living soul.
To remind us of this, we were offered all of creation. What person does not become captivated by the freshness of the air after the rain, the smell of new-mown grass, or the sound of early-morning birdsong? Who does not remember a sense of peace and belonging in a beautiful place, a wild place, a place that felt like home, receptive to our embrace and the longing of our soul?
And yet we have become controlling of nature, as we have become possessive of each other. We have surrounded ourselves with a concrete jungle and the ugliness of violence. How can we trust the partisanship of politicians or the rhetoric of the religious? Do these things reflect the truth and beauty, grace and mystery of the Beloved? The environment with which we have surrounded ourselves has deadened our senses and our sensibility to the flow of love.
The Word must flow through us, just as water must flow in order to invite life, and I'm noticing that beauty is a key. Whether smooth and tranquil, or wild and raging, our passion sustains us through this dark night of the soul. This desire for beauty, to create it, to absorb it, reflects our desire to attain our true value, to become the child of the Beloved, to become one with the Beloved — that is, to return beauty to the Heart of the Beloved, in response to His love.
John O'Donohue in his book "The Invisible Embrace of Beauty" says, "It is easy and even delightful to speak about God from a safe distance, and in fact most public and social discourse about God is little more than loose talk. ... The contemplative speaks from a different place. Crucial to this contemplative journey is the trust and imagination to realize that regardless of how you have been damaged, there is within you a sanctuary of deep love, trust and belonging. ... It is sad that so many of us go through our lives without ever seeming to discover the depth and beauty of the heart."
He speaks also of greed. Greed stifles all relationships and even deadens desire itself. Becoming greedy encourages possession, but never allows satisfaction. Having someone, or something, is never enough, and in our grabbing for more we quickly become incapable of feeling — insensitive to what we do have: to love, to desire, to goodness, to the subtleties and gentleness and delicacies of life in bloom.
Beauty, on the other hand, awakens our senses — all of them. We are able see the most intricate patterns; we begin to smell the most delicate fragrances. We hear and touch and taste what is beyond the physical. Lying with the Beloved, content just to breathe in the breath of life, quickens the heart and excites our passion. Rather than grabbing for more, we are captured by a single petal, dewdrop or heartbeat, as the All of Nothing allows our heart to open.
And so, after the breath of life was breathed into our nostrils and we became a living soul, God offered us the Garden whose beauty will remind us of our own, whose goodness reflects the Beloved's perfectly, innocently, purely. To embrace nature is to embrace the spirit of God, and accept our own God-given temperament — one that rejoices in unity, delights in diversity and, no matter how large or small our contribution, flows into the world sustaining life, love and joy.
— — —
Anne E. Ulvestad is a free-lance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy, and is available for public lectures and group presentations and rituals on Spirituality and the Environment. Anne can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Anne E. Ulvestad
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"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7).
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
Since God created us with the Word, with truth, and one way of perceiving truth is through dialogue, or interaction - and, as I wrote in my column of last week, dialogue helps us find ourselves when we see ourselves reflected in the Other — then our response to this truth is to reflect back beauty, awakening the senses of the Beloved as we ourselves were awakened when, with the breath of life, we became a living soul.
To remind us of this, we were offered all of creation. What person does not become captivated by the freshness of the air after the rain, the smell of new-mown grass, or the sound of early-morning birdsong? Who does not remember a sense of peace and belonging in a beautiful place, a wild place, a place that felt like home, receptive to our embrace and the longing of our soul?
And yet we have become controlling of nature, as we have become possessive of each other. We have surrounded ourselves with a concrete jungle and the ugliness of violence. How can we trust the partisanship of politicians or the rhetoric of the religious? Do these things reflect the truth and beauty, grace and mystery of the Beloved? The environment with which we have surrounded ourselves has deadened our senses and our sensibility to the flow of love.
The Word must flow through us, just as water must flow in order to invite life, and I'm noticing that beauty is a key. Whether smooth and tranquil, or wild and raging, our passion sustains us through this dark night of the soul. This desire for beauty, to create it, to absorb it, reflects our desire to attain our true value, to become the child of the Beloved, to become one with the Beloved — that is, to return beauty to the Heart of the Beloved, in response to His love.
John O'Donohue in his book "The Invisible Embrace of Beauty" says, "It is easy and even delightful to speak about God from a safe distance, and in fact most public and social discourse about God is little more than loose talk. ... The contemplative speaks from a different place. Crucial to this contemplative journey is the trust and imagination to realize that regardless of how you have been damaged, there is within you a sanctuary of deep love, trust and belonging. ... It is sad that so many of us go through our lives without ever seeming to discover the depth and beauty of the heart."
He speaks also of greed. Greed stifles all relationships and even deadens desire itself. Becoming greedy encourages possession, but never allows satisfaction. Having someone, or something, is never enough, and in our grabbing for more we quickly become incapable of feeling — insensitive to what we do have: to love, to desire, to goodness, to the subtleties and gentleness and delicacies of life in bloom.
Beauty, on the other hand, awakens our senses — all of them. We are able see the most intricate patterns; we begin to smell the most delicate fragrances. We hear and touch and taste what is beyond the physical. Lying with the Beloved, content just to breathe in the breath of life, quickens the heart and excites our passion. Rather than grabbing for more, we are captured by a single petal, dewdrop or heartbeat, as the All of Nothing allows our heart to open.
And so, after the breath of life was breathed into our nostrils and we became a living soul, God offered us the Garden whose beauty will remind us of our own, whose goodness reflects the Beloved's perfectly, innocently, purely. To embrace nature is to embrace the spirit of God, and accept our own God-given temperament — one that rejoices in unity, delights in diversity and, no matter how large or small our contribution, flows into the world sustaining life, love and joy.
— — —
Anne E. Ulvestad is a free-lance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy, and is available for public lectures and group presentations and rituals on Spirituality and the Environment. Anne can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Anne E. Ulvestad
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