And Heaven and Nature Sing

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:28-29)

Sacred writings are bound into two volumes: that of creation and that of Holy Scripture.
     ----- Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), quoted in Carla Berkdahl, Earth Letter, “Dreaming of Green Parishes,” Sept., 1998, p. 1

     If nature, the cosmos, is the first Book, then being in nature can offer us moments of transcendence, like starting to fall in love. For most of the human population (we are now an urban rather than rural species), especially in developed counties, we spend our time sitting in a car sitting getting to work,  at desks in front of computers, to ride in an automobile on the way home, sit for dinner, and then watch television. We becomes removed from the natural world.
      But it need not cost much to get back on the water, hence the videos and posts regarding open boats that could be home built. Because this type of boating is simple in nature, there are fewer temptations to "bring it all with us" that there might be in larger craft. This simplicity brings one close into direct contact. This type of travel can become not only fun, challenging and engaging but also an opportunity for pilgrimage.
      Just being on the water can bring feelings of transcendence. In the very experience of floating, one realizes that there is a world underneath that mirrors (with differences, mind) the works above. Birds fly through the air, and fish swim beneath. I find it fascinating that in talking about the spiritual life, we often speak of going higher and/or deeper. We live in the middle world.
      This very water flows. This water flows from the skies, to mountain streams and into rivers and lakes, into rivers that feed the sea that lap the shore here and the shores across the world, where some of this water evaporates into the sky to fall on mountains. This water connects us, it ties us together, all of us creatures of the world. It can lead is feelings of mutually and respect and compassion, certainly feelings needed today.
      Transcendence is needed today (when is it not needed?). Transcendence pulls us into greater, deeper, higher states that hopefully become more permanent stages in our spiritual maturity. First we have experiences of falling in love, then come stronger deeper (higher?) feelings of commitment and intimacy.
      During this Advent, may we all be touched by Grace as we explore this wonderful 1st Book.

Blessed be,
Joel

Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things.
Every creature is full of God and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature – even a caterpillar –
I would never have to prepare a sermon,
so full of God is every creature.
     ----- Meister Eckhart (1260 - 1327), Sermons

Teilhard writes: "I am not speaking metaphorically when I say that it is throughout the length and breadth and depth of the world in movement that man [sic] can attain the experience and vision of his God."* Teilhard also says: "By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined [the divine] as distant and inaccessible, when in fact we live steeped in its burning layers."

* Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu (Harper Torchbooks: 1960), 36.