« Ten Tidbits | Main | Mush Mush (Yeah, I’m Corny) and Alter-Blog »
Viriditas. Venite, adoremus.
By gartenfische | November 14, 2007
Throughout my whole life, during every moment I have lived, the world has gradually been taking on light and fire for me, until it has come to envelop me in one mass of luminosity, glowing from within. . . . The purple flush of matter fading imperceptibly into the gold of spirit, to be lost finally in the incandescence of a personal universe.
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Unlike many religious of his time, Teilhard De Chardin did not separate the world (the natural) from the spiritual (the Divine). He spent a lifetime out of doors—first as a child in love with nature, and later as a scientist.
Why does the physical world mean anything to us, beyond practical survival? In fact, the natural world enriches us, nursing our souls. Why? How?
God calls to God. God-within-nature quickens God-within-human. The created world summons us into a greater communion with God.
Would nature be meaning-full to us, if God were not calling to us from within it? Why would the natural world induce us us feel anything at all? Take trees, mountains, water, dirt: objects. Sand, rocks, driftwood, water: objects. But they are not dead objects! Thrumming with God’s life, they call to us, invite us into God. God woos us through God’s creation. Created calls to created from deep within. That’s why we find beauty in the natural world.
Teilhard De Chardin again:
All around us, to right and left, in front and behind, above and below, we have only to go a little beyond the frontier of sensible appearances in order to see the divine welling up and showing through. But it is not only close to us, in front of us, that the divine presence has revealed itself. It has sprung up universally, and we find ourselves so surrounded and transfixed by it, that there is no room left to fall down and adore it, even within ourselves.
By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers. In eo vivimus. As Jacob said, awakening from his dream, the world, this palpable world, which we were wont to treat with the boredom and disrespect with which we habitually regard places with no sacred association for us, is in truth a holy place, and we did not know it. Venite, adoremus.
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
His vision is not simple nature-love. It is not environmentalism. It is radical.
In the twelfth century, Hildegard of Bingen coined the term viriditas: green-power, nature-force. We know viriditas. We experience it when we walk on the beach, or beside a river, or in a park. The majesty of God’s creation is an overused term that is common precisely because of its truthhood. But it falls short. God’s creation is majestic, yes, but it is also life-giving, life-affirming—it is life.
Honestly: How can we separate ourselves from the world and not suffer for it?
Do we not experience a vitality, a closeness to God, in the created world that we do not feel at a desk?
Thomas Berry writes: Our spirituality itself is earth-derived. If there is no spirituality in the earth, then there is no spirituality in ourselves.
The truth is our world is not an inert object. It lives and breathes Godself.
The Celts knew. Their spirituality reflects an understanding of the natural world as Godstuff: not something we merely walk through, or endure, on our way here or there.
J. Philip Newell, who writes about Celtic Christianity/creation spirituality, says that Celtic Christianity recognizes two holy texts—”the Bible and the text of creation.” The Celtic cross illustrates this dual emphasis: the circle representing creation/the sun, the cross representing Christ.
Teilhard De Chardin knew the world was a holy text. To him, the natural and the Divine were indivisible. (A scientist, a priest, he also did not believe in separating science and the Divine: Neither in its impetus nor its achievements can science go to its limits without becoming tinged with mysticism and charged with faith.)
Too many of us are estranged from the book of creation. I thought of writing this because I feel that estrangement. And I don’t know how to fix it. I mean, I know how, in the practical sense, but I am stuck. It seems like a modern condition, this disconnect. It takes consciousness, and strength of will, to begin to right it. Truthfully, living with creatures that are closer to the earth (dogs!) steps me a bit closer, but I must go further.
We must go further. Isn’t it a feeling of separateness that leads to the abuse that we are unleashing upon the earth? What are we doing to the holy text of God’s creation? How dare we destroy it.
In earlier times, of course, a closer connection to the earth was typical. We have separated ourselves. From nature, and as a result, to some degree, from God.
Waxing or waning the moon is always the moon
The wind is still flying. Can you feel it my dear?
Bringing the rain from afar to nourish the nearby cloud
Drops of sunshine fall from no high to earth below
And the lap of earth touches the clear vault of the sky.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
- - - - - - - - - - - -
A prayer:
This day and this night,
may I know O God
The deep peace
of the running wave
The deep peace
of the flowing air
The deep peace
of the quiet earth
The deep peace
of the shining stars
The deep peace
of the Son of Peace.
From Celtic Prayers from Iona, J. Philip Newell
- - - - - - - - - - - -
For an interesting article on de Chardin and his vision, see: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Toward a Science Charged with Faith.
Topics: viriditas, Teilhard de Chardin, God, Christianity |
November 14th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Viriditas — what a wonderful word!
I learn something every time I come here.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I believe you should writ a book, a meditative book. This is so beautiful I need to sit and ponder. Thank you.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Plus, what you’ve written about Teilhard and Thomas Berry, etc., makes me think you might like to visit my blog and look up the label “cosmology” and read some of my posts about that.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
[…] out this amazing post on spirituality & the physical world by […]
November 14th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I love this post. I am an artist. I use my work as a spiritual path & discipline. I often try to explain how our Source exists in the material world. That the fundementally creative nature of the Divine can be tapped. Artists can open a channel through their physical work to bring more of that energy into the world, or, perhaps I should say more awareness of this energy into the world. You post hits it right on the head. Thank you!
November 15th, 2007 at 1:03 am
This is very interesting to read your article and I got to know many things about the god and the nature and I suggest you to write a complete book on this article it really work out with you. The prayer to the god is very good. Thanks for a nice article sharing with me
November 15th, 2007 at 7:32 am
[…] 15, 2007 by Heather Ah, yes. Thanks, […]
November 15th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Wow Jan, there’s some great stuff there (cosmology, on your blog). I’ve been interested in Brian Swimme for a while, but haven’t taken the time to follow up on it.
Painter, welcome! And thanks for the comment. You have a great blog–I can see I’m going to have to spend some time there. What a wonderful vision for an artist–consciously creating in sync with the Divine energy.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Gartenfische- you never fail to amaze me with your thoughts and your words. This is an extraordinary post.
I am short on time so that is all I will say. This is a post is a prayer unto itself.
Thank you.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
[…] the earth and healing. In the meantime checkout these amazing posts on Earth & Spirituality: Gartenfische (of course!) Sound and Silence(This starts out about Halloween, but keep reading, it’s worth […]
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:11 am
[…] Viriditas. Venite, Adoremus The Spiritual Earth […]