"The very nature of the universe invites you to journey and discover it. The earth wants our minds to listen attentively and gaze wisely so that we may learn its secrets and name them. We are the echo-mirrors of contemplative Nature. One of our most sacred duties is to be open and faithful to the subtle voices of the universe which come alive in our longing. Animals, trees, fields and tides have other duties. For this alone we have been freed and blessed. Either we are in the universe to inhabit the lovely eternity of our souls and grow real, or else we might as well dedicate our days to shopping and kill time watching talk shows. Ideally, a human life should be a constant pilgrimage of discovery. The most exciting discoveries happen at the frontiers. When you discover something, you transfigure some of the forsakenness of the world. Nature comes to know itself anew in your discoveries. Creative human thought adds to the brightness of the world." John O'Donohue Photo: Ice and snow patterns on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 25, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/
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After this week's posts, several readers have asked what I mean when I talk about merging or connecting our own human suffering with "the Divine Suffering." Because this insight - and experience - is so infrequently discussed in our current religious milieu, people are tempted to think of it in terms of the only thing they know: a theory of substitutionary atonement involving God, Jesus, human failings, guilt, punishment and death. This is unfortunate because the experience is actually quite rich, liberating and meaningful. For me, one of the most groundbreaking epiphanies I've had over the past several decades has been the realization that human suffering is actually a participation in a much broader suffering - that of The Divine. I have had quite a few people challenge me on this point, because in the history of world religions - and especially in New Age spirituality - this insight is so rare. Generally, it seems, people think of the Creative Source as being BEYOND suffering. One major source of the realization that "God suffers" comes from Alfred North Whitehead's Process Theology. Here, God is viewed as having a "di-polar" nature. On the one hand, we have the eternal, transcendent "primordial" nature of God, which ever remains buoyant and optimistic in its envisioning of new possibilities for the world. Actually, Whitehead seemed to view this aspect of God as unconscious. On the other hand, we have that aspect of God which inhabits our own experiences - and the experiences of ALL species - evolving, growing, feeling joy and suffering within OUR OWN experiences of joy and suffering. This is the "consequent" nature of God. Here, creaturely experience enriches the inner life of God, including the sufferings we experience and the methods we discover (including medicine) for working through that suffering. A second major source of the "God suffers" realization comes from Franciscan mysticism. A modern exponent of this insight is Richard Rohr, a Franciscan who runs the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rohr talks about how God "is hopelessly in love," "suffers in the experience of rejection," and "feels like a real fool" in continually radiating love but receiving very little back. Other modern Franciscans, like Ilea DeLeo, speak of "our crucified Earth" in Its experience of human-caused destruction through pollution and de-forestation. Here, the earth is sometimes seen as "The Body of God" (as in the theology of Sallie McFague), or - in contemplatives like myself - as a "Goddess" in her own right. In any case, whenever I think of the divine rejection (in both its God and Goddess forms) I'm reminded of the mystical Jewish insight that "Because God has hidden Himself so well, almost everyone has stopped looking for Him!" As the story goes, a Hasidic rabbi had this sudden "aha!" experience when his granddaughter emerged - crying - from an especially intense game of hide-and-seek. Of course, this hiddenness arises in part because we don't at first know how to experience a Divine Presence who is, as St. Augustine says, "closer to us than we are to ourselves." Or who is, in the words of the Quran, "nearer to us than our own jugular vein." In this connection, I also find myself imagining a Creative Source who is always several steps ahead of us in this grand project of cosmic evolution, yet who has to work THROUGH US in bringing about this very evolutionary change. Imagine how lonely the Beloved must feel at the fact that we human beings grow so slowly and sluggishly? As Thomas Merton so aptly puts it, "Human loneliness is a participation in the loneliness of God." A third source of the "God suffers" insight comes from a 13th century German mystic named Meister Eckhart, who famously exclaimed: "From the beginning of eternity, God lies on a maternity bed giving birth to all." Here, the great mystic had his epiphany in realizing that divine suffering - and human suffering as well, through our own union with God - actually consists in a series of spiritual "labor pains" that are birthing a new, wholistic and liberating consciousness on earth. In all of these cases, liberation happens when we take our own sufferings and release them to a GREATER Suffering, one that is able to transform that suffering into joy and liberation through the mysterious spiritual alchemy which lies at the heart of the Divine. For me, this isn't mere theory. The fact that I am GRASPED and HELD by these insights reveals to me that there is "Someone" on the other side who is "doing" the grasping. Likewise, whenever I find myself "in the grip" of depression, physical pain, suffering over a loved one's pain or that of entire cultures - like our own Native Americans or African-Americans, especially during the era of slavery - or that of human-devastated landscapes and seascapes - I realize again that there is "Someone" - a Divine Beloved - on the other side of that grip who is the ultimate Experiencer of the suffering. Here an image comes to mind of a person in the process of undergoing a painful medical procedure. As she experiences the pain of the procedure, the patient GRIPS the arm or hand of a loved one sitting nearby as a means of consolation. And so it is, I'm convinced, with God - and with the Goddess - and US! Photo: Avalanche-damaged Englemann Spruce, and spires above Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 25, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ I once heard a talk given by Larry Dossey, an M.D. who has written quite a few books about the effective power of prayer and meditation in physical and psychological healing. The title of the talk, interestingly enough, was "New Age Guilt." After detailing a whole host of empirical studies showing the effectiveness of prayer and meditation in bringing about healing, Dossey then went on to present a long list of well-known spiritual teachers and masters - from ALL religious traditions - who died from various illnesses: cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc. His point was that the reality of healing involves at least several different factors, some of which we can control, and others of which we cannot. I am convinced that consistent prayer, meditation and positive thoughts - as well as a healthy diet, good exercise and ample time spent in the Great Outdoors - DO indeed elicit greater health. However, to make this principle into an ironclad LAW - with the currently popular "Law of Attraction" being one prominent example - is simply to fall into yet one more embodiment of our own American Puritan mindset and heritage being applied in our lives. If we do end up falling into ill-health, such a "law" can - and often does - lead to just as many crippling feelings of guilt as any explicitly religious fundamentalism ever produced. I'm reminded here of my days spent in the evangelical Christian Charismatic Movement, when "faith healing" was all the rage. If we prayed for a healing and didn't receive it, the blame was laid upon us for not "having enough faith" or not "spending enough time in the Word (the Bible)." We are tempted to fall into a similar guilt pattern in our present time, when young, beautiful, healthy "Law of Attraction gurus" preach to us at every turn about a supposed ironclad connection between health and positive thoughts. However, it is simply one more variation on our stubbornly-embedded American Puritan heritage. Here is my prescription: Yes, let us focus on positive thoughts, faith, a healthy diet, exercise, and time spent in the Great Outdoors. But let us also FALL SO MUCH IN LOVE with the beauty and grandeur of the larger cosmos - and with our own unique contribution to the joy of the Creator's Self-Awareness and Celebration - that we have very little time or energy left over to focus on the results (or non-results) of our own health-based practices. If we do end up experiencing physical or psychological suffering, let us not give in to the temptation to "beat ourselves up" over our seeming failure. Let us instead merge our suffering with the suffering of the Creator - both God and Goddess - and allow the Divine Suffering, like a sequence of cosmic labor pains, to bring to birth a new and transformative consciousness within and among us. Photo: A windy day up on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 25, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ Although I'm convinced that the practice of dwelling on positive thoughts and intentions increases the likelihood of beneficial events occurring in one's life, I'm equally convinced that this is not the entire story. Our timing may be out of sync with that of the universe, or perhaps the desired occurrence will not manifest itself until sometime in the future, after enough good-hearted people have repeated enough aspirations enough times to build up the energy needed to make a real change in world of phenomena. I must admit, however, that sometimes I feel like the "Law of Attraction" as it is commonly taught is actually quite bourgeois, at least in the U.S. and in other wealthy, materialistic nations. In this connection, I often think of the Ghost Dance as it was practiced by many different tribal nations, but especially by the Lakota in 1890 and thereafter. If any people was filled with positive thoughts and intentions, it was the Lakota practicing the Ghost Dance during that period. In accordance with a vision received by Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka, consistent practice of the dance would bring peace, clean-living, love and unity among Native peoples. All evil in the world would be swept away, leaving a renewed Earth filled with adequate food, love, dignity and faith. In the Lakota variation, it was believed that the dance would cause white settlers to leave Native lands and would also bring back the bison. In addition, a "Ghost Shirt" - when worn in battle - would protect the wearer from cavalry bullets. However, history tells us that the shirt often did not repel the bullets as hoped, and massacres - like that at Wounded Knee - were the sad result. Whenever I read about the optimism and hope engendered by the dance, I find myself wishing that the Ghost Dance and Ghost Shirt really HAD worked. This is just one example, but my point is that other factors besides faith, positive thoughts and hope-filled intentions are apparently involved whenever we are seeking to effect a positive change in the world. The best we can do, therefore, is to continue our spiritual practices, maintain an attitude of faith, hope and love, and then offer ourselves up to the Divine will, praying that we will be able to accept whatever outcome emerges. If we continue to suffer even after practicing in this way, we can learn to connect our suffering to the Divine Suffering, and then trust that it will thereby become transformed into joy through the mysterious spiritual alchemy present within the inner life of God. For it is faith in THIS, I believe, that is the highest form of positive thought and intention. Photo: Broken ice on Horsetooth Reservoir, Larimer County, CO, January 24, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ One of the criteria I use to discern whether or not a spiritual teaching possesses sufficient depth (and thereby participates in an aspect of the Truth) is the presence or absence of a TWO-WAY relationship or union. Many current pop or New Age gurus speak of the power of human intention in bringing about desired ends. It is common to hear these days the idea that if one focuses on positive thoughts, then all of reality will conform itself to these thoughts and manifest positive outcomes in the physical world. In other words, the external world will begin to mirror the inner world of one's intentions. This is of course HALF of the truth. We all know people who perennially maintain a negative attitude toward the world and then seem to have all kinds of negative or challenging circumstances occur in their lives. In fact, we may even see this kind of thing occur in our own lives on occasion. However, a spirituality of depth understands that the principle of intention and mirroring also runs the other way. As the classical mystical traditions understand so well, the Divine Source - however we might conceive It - is a kind of Beloved who has Its own intentions for our lives and who wants to see His and Her goodness and beauty expressed and mirrored in the world - and more specifically, in our own lives. Here there is an element of surrender to a Greater Power that wants to experience increased Self-awareness through our own attitudes of awe and wonder at the beauty and grandeur of the cosmos. Speaking personally, I feel my own inner spaciousness, beauty and the capacity for intimacy mirrored in the natural world, thereby enhancing an awareness of who I am at my deepest core. You can see evidence of this personal mirroring each day through the photos I post here. In the composition and framing of these scenes, you are able to see something of my own inner soul. However, for me, this kind of mirroring is miniscule compared to the primary and ultimate mirroring that runs IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. Here, I am aware that my own awe and wonder at the magnificence of the cosmos contributes richness to the inner life of the Creator, both God and Goddess. Accordingly, my joy in the presence of Nature's grandeur becomes a mirror in which the Divine knows ITS OWN beauty and goodness, thereby enriching the inner life of The Source. In fact, I would maintain that this is the ultimate purpose of EACH of us here on earth, no matter what our particular passion or field of endeavor. How do we know the presence of this divine intention - and this mirroring - in our own lives? We experience it directly in the act of having our passion and joy GRASPED and HELD by the beauty and goodness of the world. Whenever something GRIPS and HOLDS our attention in a positive way - whether it be a landscape, another person, a culture, a philosophy or an idea, we can be sure that we are being called - AND desired and longed-for - by the Divine present within that very landscape, or by the sacred Spirit indwelling the person, the culture, the philosophy or the idea. In this connection, we sometimes hear people say that theology is merely an act whereby HUMAN BEINGS construct a particular view of reality. But what they fail to mention is the fact that some element of that theology - never, of course, the entire thing, at least insofar as it can be expressed in words - is divinely ALIVE and is LONGING FOR and DESIRING to express itself through us! We know this whenever a particular theological insight grips and grasps and holds our own passion, joy and awareness. It is THIS kind of two-way union which serves as an indication that a particular spiritual teaching possesses depth and truly participates in the aspect of Truth that corresponds to that depth. May each of us find the grace to remain sensitive this day to the Truth that ever stalks us and will not let us go until we express something of its beauty, wonder and grandeur in our own life and character :) Photo: An ice "canyon" on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 23, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ "A climb up the Rockies will . . . put one in tune with the Infinite . . . and strengthen and sweeten life." Enos Mills Father of Rocky Mountain National Park Photo: Gneiss boulder and spires above Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 23, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ "Though its belonging is still and sure, there is also a sense in which Nature is trapped in the one place. This must intensify the longing at the heart of Nature. The stillness of the stone is pure, but it also means that it can never move one inch from its thousand-year stand. . . . Think of your self and feel how you belong so deeply to the earth and how you are a tower of longing in which Nature rises up and comes to voice. We are the children of the clay, who have been released so that the earth may dance in the light." John O'Donohue Photo: My shadow at sunset in a landscape of rocky outcrops, Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY, January 13, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ "In recent years, and especially since 9/11, following the news tends to make me feel unhappy and even slightly depressed, if not entirely despairing. What kind of world are we greysters leaving for the younger generations, I sometimes wonder? Yet whenever I meet and look into the eyes of young people, I feel an irrational surge of hope and gratification. They remind me of my own friends' earthshaking, idealistic Sixties energy and collective efforts, and I see how very capable they are of stepping outside the box for creative ideas and new solutions. The younger coming generations seem to have realized that it is necessary to be doing things TOGETHER in order to accomplish much of anything. Being a realistic optimist, I know that - no matter what the doomsdayers and naysayers may say - it's not over till the Fat Lama sings - and this fat lama ain't done yet!" Lama Surya Das, American Tibetan Buddhist teacher From "Global Chorus: 365 Voices on the Future of the Planet " Edited by Todd E. Maclean, 2015 Photo: Sunset, Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY, January 13, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ "We have entered the first century in the 45 million centuries of life on Earth in which one species can jeopardize the planet's future. From this point on, culture more than nature is the principle determinant of Earth's future. Although we congratulate ourselves on our powers, humans are not well equipped to manage the sorts of global-level problems we face in this new era. Yet, this wonderland Earth is a planet with promise. If we are to realize the abundant life for all time, both policy and ethics must enlarge the scope of concern. We are Earthlings. Our integrity is inseparable from Earth's integrity. The ultimate unit of moral concern is this wonderland biosphere. We can and ought to get humans put in their place. Our best hope lies in global convictions that for the richest human living we do not want a denatured life on a denatured planet." Holmes Rolston III Colorado State University "Grandfather of Environmental Ethics" "Global Chorus: 365 Voices on the Future of the Planet"' Edited by Todd E. Maclean Rolston was a professor of mine at CSU during my undergraduate years. Photo: Sunset, Eagle's Nest Open Space, Larimer County, CO, January 16, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ "One of the deepest longings in the human heart is the desire to be loved for yourself alone. This longing awakens you completely. When you are touched by love, it reaches down into your deepest fibre. It is difficult to realize actually how desperately we do need love. It is difficult to love yourself, if you are not first loved. When you are loved, your heart rushes forth in the joy of the dance of life. Like someone who has been lost for years in a forgotten place, you rejoice in being found. When you are discovered, you then discover yourself. This infuses your whole life with new vigour and light. Love awakens the youthfulness of the heart. You discover your creative force. It is quite touching to see love bring someone home so swiftly to herself." John O'Donohue I love the honesty of these words. They reveal how much we are needed to love others in order to help the Divine awaken them to their own lovability. A person, of course, cannot be the ultimate lover or beloved. The spiritual journey is the search for the true Beloved - the Divine, however we may define It. In my own case, that ultimate Divine Lover and Beloved is found primarily in meditation and in Nature. Photo: Ice formations on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 23, 2016 Please visit: http://www.resourcesforspiritualgrowth.com/ |
AuthorStephen Hatch, M.A. is a spiritual teacher and photographer from Fort Collins, Colorado. His approach is contemplative, inter-spiritual, and Earth-based. Archives
June 2016
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