Ahhh………..I can certainly understand!
I’m in the midst of preparing the course that I am teaching on The Essence of Creation Spirituality with David next month, and I’m ever grateful for this work in my life. It’s been such a blessing in my own life and certainly a foundation to help me navigate through the moments of bomb cyclones (yes, I was on the East Coast when the Cyclone hit!) in my life.
Now I have the opportunity to share this work with others. How exciting! And what an opportunity to help others find more of a sense of calm, security, and hope in challenging times.
Over the next few weeks, here in my blog, I want to share with you an introduction to a few of my favorites tools that stem from the principles at the heart of Creation Spirituality.
Inner Work as a Rich and Colorful Tapestry
The first principle I want to share focuses on understanding our inner work as a 4-fold journey. This has been the foundation of my own inner work on my spiritual path and has guided me in my daily life. Honestly, the tools I am going to share with you in the weeks ahead have kept me afloat through difficult moments.
This 4-fold journey is not experienced as 4 separate paths that we walk on sequentially, one at a time. It is a great tapestry that we weave , with 4 threads of rich and luminous, yet different, colors.
Via Positiva
The first thread that dances within this grand tapestry is the path of the Via Positiva. This is the thread where we find our expression of awe, wonder, joy, and delight in the world and in our lives.
Here we have a sense of something that is greater than ourselves, and we’re in awe and amazement at all that we experience.
Are you able to enter into this place of Via Positiva within your daily life?
Feeling a sense of awe and even delight within the moments of your day?
You pick up your glass of water and take a drink. The cool liquid slides down your throat quenching its dryness. You feel deep appreciation for the clean water you have access to. You marvel how it replenishes your body giving you energy and health. You know that water is the foundation of life and that you are blessed to have water to drink and nourish you.
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You walk into the doorway of your home and you pause for a moment to feel gratitude for the fact that you have a home. A home that gives you shelter and also holds your family and your daily activities lovingly. It has walls, a roof and floors. It protects you, giving you a sense of security and safety. It provides a generous space for meals, resting and even being together with loved ones and having fun. Pausing to delight in such moments of awe and wonder in the world can bring us great joy. This is the first thread within our glorious tapestry. It is a thread that glimmers with sparkling light – the Via Positiva.
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Via Negativa
The second thread that moves within the tapestry of our inner life is the Via Negativa.
This thread is one of darkness – that place where the glimmering light does not shine. Where we are in the depths of a cave – alone and in silence.
There we experience deep pain and grief. An unknowing. A serious illness or death. A loss of a friend, a parting of a relationship. A loss of a job or financial stability. A betrayal of trust or violation of respect.
Here we can let go of all that is around us – within and without. Here we can surrender and let be.
Here there is nothingness.
An emptying occurs in the Via Negativa. Within the emptiness, a deep power of listening emerges. A listening to our true self. A listening of what the world speaks to us.
This is the thread of deep and vast darkness that weaves as Via Negativa within the tapestry.
As the threads of light and darkness dance together, there is the possibility for something new to come into creation. A new life is birthed as the third thread emerges, the Via Creativa.Where previously there was nothing, a spark is ignited to bring life to the path of imagination and creativity.
We look with fresh eyes at this new thread that is being born and envision new possibilities for the future.
Through new solutions, new ideas, and new ways of thinking, we have the possibility of becoming a powerful healing force in the world. These new creations have the potential for a new consciousness that can create change in the world.
So that all of us can live fully and peacefully on the Earth.
Via Transformativa
The fourth thread in the colorful tapestry is the Via Transformativa, the path of transformation. This thread dances through the entire tapestry, creating a change to the form that already exists within the weaving.
As the threads dance together in our lives, we can see and understand others (and ourselves) as we celebrate our shared joys and heal our shared pain. Then we have the possibility to sow a seed within ourselves that truly changes who we are and the world around us.
The colorful tapestry changes – it glimmers in a new way, has a new quality of color and shape.
It changes those who experience it. The individual threads are no longer singular, but transformed into a new whole.
The thread of the Via Positiva, the path of awe, delight and wonder.
The thread of the Via Negativa, the path of darkness, suffering, letting go.
The thread of the Via Creativa, the path of creativity and birth.
The thread of the Via Transformative, the path of change and celebration.
Weaving the threads together into one great tapestry, we have the foundation for our inner work in our life’s journey.
Inner work that heals ourselves and the world.
Interested in joining my class on The Essence of Creation Spirituality? I’d love to see you there! Find out more here.
