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God is... |
Matthew Fox describes compassion as a creative force and
also states it is critical to our and our planet’s survival. He cites physicist Fritjof Capra's
observations that all energy flows through and connects all things and one
another. Our planet and we are one
in this giant web of energy. Fox
states that successful life is therefore a cooperative, interdependent venture
not a competitive struggle and calls compassion the true creative life
force. He states, …there is no compassion without creativity.
Thomas Moore says it another way as I relate in my memoir as
follows: The idea of caring for myself was so foreign but I sensed it was
imperative. I read Thomas Moore’s
“Care of the Soul.” His assertion
that everything has soul—people, trees, buildings, cars, etc., and each is a
part of the larger world soul—let me look at everything in an exciting new
dimension and feel a part of something bigger than myself. And I experienced the sense of the
world soul later on a walk to the beach.
I wrote: Coolness was all over that early
morning—overcast inland and a gray thick blanket of fog at the now warmer
lake. The water smelled heavy in
the curtained air, too heavy to move.
Tall gray herons waded near the shore and seemed only a darker color of
fog in the shape of stately birds.
It was easy to sense the seamless world soul in the all-encompassing
softness. …That day I learned, as
part of the world’s soul, I create an atmosphere wherever I go.
Fox cautions against too much introverted meditation and
advocates for extrovert meditation saying it
is centering by way of creating.
In extrovert meditation we learn
to trust our deepest insights about images new and old and thus we learn from
these images. They become our
teachers. He cites the potter
with clay, the musician with notes, the dancer with movement, the baker with
dough, etc. So this morning I made
blueberry muffins contemplatively with my kitchen radio and TV left off. Afterwards I washed the dishes by hand
being present to the water and the task.
And the muffins I created, I shared.
What if we each tuned in to some creative extrovert
meditation everyday? Could we eventually
create a just and peaceful world through our compassionate creativity? Could we come to function cooperatively
as a whole?