Can You Hear It?

Tags

Ancient Songs Sung Anew, divine energy, Divine Presence, evolution, instruction, listening, natural word, nature, reality, silence, still, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe

In keeping with what I said yesterday about Chardin’s vision of evolution in the universe, today we have Psalm 19 in the lectionary readings. One commentator sees this psalm as containing “a grand cosmological vision of a vast universe, alive and full of the divine Presence.” In this psalm we hear the message that God’s word is heard through the natural world as well as in church sermons and our life experiences. I am always happy to read and hear others speak of the importance of the natural world as a conduit of God’s presence and teaching since I learn a lot from observing the depth and function of nature. Here is a suggestion for all of us, the busy people of the world, that might be something to try with the goal of opening us more fully to a deeper way of seeing.

Sometimes our difficulty is that we are not silent and still long enough to hear the subtleties of this quiet yet pervasive form of instruction. Allow yourself to become still and silent for a period of inner and outer listening. Listen with your whole being. Ask this divine energy and communication flowing through you to become a cleansing wind blowing the dust and debris away and opening you more fully to God’s inner Reality. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.46)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyperbole

Tags

behavior, compassion, consciousness, Earth, evolution, religion, responsibility, sacrifice, science, servant, suffer, sympathize, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday I was in a wide-ranging conversation about elements of a future world that would not only include acceptable behavior of all citizens but also be compassionate toward all creatures and to the universe itself. It seemed that we have a long way to go toward consciousness if we are, in fact, to even approach the possibility of such a world. One element that we saw as necessary was the responsibility of each one of us to move the world toward that goal.

This morning I read a prayer written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French Jesuit paleontologist whose writings integrate science and religion in a way that sees evolution as not only a reality but a responsibility of all of us. It seems he is ready to take the lead in accepting his role in this endeavor where compassion is the foundation of the effort. Although he sounds somewhat haughty about his position in such a process, it seems we would all do well to act from a position of the broadest vision in order to “kick start” our enthusiasm and assure at least some progress in our time. Here is what he said in his Prayer for Compassion:

Oh God, I wish from now on to be the first to become conscious of all that the world loves, pursues and suffers: I want to be the first to seek, to sympathize, and to suffer; the first to unfold and sacrifice myself, to become more widely human and more nobly of the earth than any of the world’s servants. (Hearts on Fire – Praying with the Jesuits, p. 107)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hymn to Matter

Tags

atoms, blessed, evolution, God, matter, mighty, stars, Teilhard de Chardin, The Heart of Matter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, violence

What follows is only the beginning of a text found in Teilhard de Chardin’s book, The Heart of Matter. It touched me with its power so I offer it as my thought for this third day of my retreat.

Blessed be you, harsh matter, barren oil, stubborn rock: you who yield only to violence, you who force us to work if we would eat. Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion: you who unless we fetter you will devour us. Blessed be you, mighty matter, irresistible march of evolution, reality ever new-born: you who, by constantly shattering our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further in our pursuit of the truth. Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. (p.75)