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The Aurora - by Terje Sorgjerd (Clip of the Week)

What an astounding capture of film - both meditative & expansive. You can check more of his work here.

 

 

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Perfecting the Imperfect - (Excerpt of the Week)

Just received this in my inbox today & I do have to say that I wish more of us could have the courage to live as such

"We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.  That might just be the central message of how spiritual growth happens; yet nothing in us wants to believe it….

If there is such a thing as human perfection, it seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection that is everywhere, especially our own.  What a clever place for God to hide holiness, so that only the humble and earnest will find it!  A 'perfect' person ends up being one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection rather than one who thinks he or she is totally above and beyond imperfection.

It becomes sort of obvious once you say it out loud.  In fact, I would say that the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of the good.  Perfection is a mathematical or divine concept, goodness is a beautiful human concept that includes us all."

 

-Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

 

 

 

Voices that Change Us

You may or may not know that Saint Patrick was not an Irishman. In fact, he was a Brit (a Romano-Briton to be precise) & as a teenager he was captured by the Irish & enslaved. After six some odd years of slavery the young Patrick heard a voice telling him to walk to a port 200 miles away where he would discover a ship that would lead him home. Indeed, Patrick obeyed the instruction, discovered the ship, eventually returned to his freedom, his homeland, & his eventual calling into the ministry of the church. Years later - as legend has it - Patrick experienced a vision of a man carrying a number of letters & inscribed on the letter handed to him were the words, "the voice of the Irish." And while Patrick read the letter he imagined he heard a chorus of voices crying out to him, "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us." So Patrick went to the land of his former captors & the rest so to speak is history - with a good bit of Irish legend thrown in.

Stop Burning People & Start Loving the Unlovely

"We operate with the assumption that giving people new ideas changes people.  It doesn’t.  Believing ideas is, in fact, a way of not having to change in any significant way, especially if you can argue about them.  Ideas become defenses.

 

you have the right words, you are considered an orthodox and law-abiding Christian.  We burned people at the stake for not having the right words, but never to my knowledge for failing to love or forgive, or to care for the poor.  Religion has had a love affair with words and correct ideas, whereas Jesus loved people, who are always imperfect.

You do not have to substantially change to think some new ideas.  You always have to change to love and forgive ordinary people.  We love any religion that asks us to change other people.  We avoid any religion that keeps telling us to change."

-Richard Rohr (adapted from How Men Change: A Thin Time)

 

Choosing Joy - Henri Nouwen

Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it.

What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice.

 

-Henri Nouwen

Yearning for Love - Henri Nouwen

Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness."

Let's keep returning to our solitude.

-Henri Nouwen

Loneliness is Painful

"All human beings are alone. No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

Letting our aloneness grow into solitude and not into loneliness is a lifelong struggle. It requires conscious choices about whom to be with, what to study, how to pray, and when to ask for counsel. But wise choices will help us to find the solitude where our hearts can grow in love."

 

                                  -Henri Nouwen

What are you risking into in 2011?

My oldest loves to climb & slack-line. Our family received a slack-line for Christmas. Slack-lining is both sport & meditation - it requires a semblance of courage, focus, & balance. I can manage about six steps at best. And then the fall. But perhaps I'll manage six steps more in 2011. Not all of us will cross huge chasms in 2011. But really the question is why not? What's preventing us from doing something remarkable? Something different & out of the ordinary that will move us toward goodness, beauty, renewal, & deep adventure. The honest person will say it is simply fear. The curmudgeon will declare that risk is for fools. The courageous will say that there is no other way to truly live. Please, please don't opt for predictable living in 2011. Start with one step - keep going - and move courageously & uncertainly ahead as the path unfolds before you.

What's Your Art? III (Liu Bolin is the Invisible Man)

According to this article artist Liu Bolin paints himself into the background of urban cityscapes because of the dehumanizing effects of modern society.  So rather than paint on paper canvases to portray his disaffection & disconnection with 21st century urban contexts Liu Bolin will literally spend up to 10 hours painting himself (or having his assistants paint him) into the background of certain urban scenes.  At once becoming invisible to passersby while becoming a very part of the dehumanization he is protesting.

In the above-linked article Liu Bolin said: "'Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it's what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story.

'After graduating from school I couldn't find suitable work and I felt there was no place for me in society.

'I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world.

'From that time, my attitude turned from dependence into revolting against the system.'  

Liu said he was further pushed on with his work when the Chinese authorities shut down his art studio in Beijing in 2005.

He said: 'At that time, contemporary art was in quick development in Beijing, but the government decided it did not want artists like us to gather and live together."

In some ways I suppose Liu Bolin is telling us all, "I dare you to notice me.  And I'm going to make it hard for you to notice me.  But if on rare occasion you do notice me - you will not be able to ignore me."

And I suppose this is what all true art does.  It does not just serve the individual - rather it invites and demands us to twist our heads & see our place in this universe all over again. 

What is your art?  And what is keeping you from it?

 

 

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What's Your Art? (Pencil Vs Camera - art by Ben Heine)

"What's your art?"

Everyone has something deep inside begging to show just a bit of its brilliance to the world.  But somehow long ago (a year ago or 50 years ago) we learned to shelve that deep something in order to bow down & worship "expectations" - a euphemism for success guised in the routine & the mundane. 

There is brilliance inside of you.  Everyone has it.  But not everyone risks enough to embody it.  Secretly you know it's there - whether you're willing to admit it or not.  But too often your friends or your family or your colleagues are the ones who unintentionally extinguish the flame of your deepest callings - because dreams seem not to be a good way to "make a living."  And so you wake up yet another day to make a living & neglect to live a life.

You know what I mean.  And of course not everyone can draw like Ben Heine. And not everyone can play the cello like Zoe Keating or sing like Jackie Evancho. 

But everyone does have something.  And the world is dying to know it.  Don't live other people's small expectations for your life.  Stop it - you're miserable for doing so.  Begin living the giant unexpected dream God breathed deep inside of you.  Rhythm into the grand risk of it.  We can't wait to experience it.