I mentioned before borrowing some of Michael Meade’s CD’s from the library and listening to them while driving on my retreat. He has such a wonderful way of weaving in poetry and storytelling with his own insights about the mythical and imaginative life. In his CD titled The Great Dance: Finding One’s Way in Troubled Times, he quotes the poet Blake as saying “there is a moment of eternity waiting for you every day.” Meade sats the word “moment” comes from the Latin root momentus, which means to move. We are moved when we touch the eternal and timeless. There is a sense of spaciousness in moments. Art and spiritual practice are how we find this moment of eternity, or even better, how we allow the moment to find us. I actually believe there are many moments waiting for us each day, prodding at our consciousness, inviting us to abandon our carefully constructed plans and defenses. The task of the artist is to cultivate the ability to see them again and again. In this way, we are all invited to become artists.
For me, both art and spirituality are truly about tending to the moments of life. Listening deeply, holding space, encountering the sacred, touching eternity. For a moment we touch time beyond time and in that quality of presence my heart grows wider, my imagination frees, my breath catches, and I am held in awe and wonder. We know we have touched this moment when we are moved by something beyond us yet also rising from deep within. We may be moved to tears or to laughter, or maybe both. In these moments the particulars of the world open us up to a great expanse. We suddenly see the other world hidden in the heart of this one. We may not know exactly why or how, but we know we have been touched and gently transformed, invited into greater compassion for ourselves and the world. In these moments words fail me and I want to sing and dance and cry poems from the center of my being. I try to capture them in images as a doorway to the next moment.
Just a few moments in time while on retreat that found me:
What are the practices in your life that help you tend to the moments that await you each day? Have you tasted eternity this day? Do you see it waiting for you there, pulsing within everything that is and was and shall be?
-Christine Valters Paintner
5 Responses
Hi Bette, That is my favorite one too. :-) I am not sure what it is but I pulled over to the side of the road to get some foliage and discovered that one. I can’t even say why it moves me so much. I think Queen Anne’s Lace is more feathery.
You are welcome! Blessings, Christine
YES to everything you said!
Love all the photos, but especially #2. Oh my goodness, it is packed with emotion and beauty. Is that Queen Anne’s Lace? Now that is how nature embrace’s the sacred.
Thank you, dear Christine ;)
Peace and Hugs,
Bette.
Thank you Britt and Cheryl for your most kind and gracious words!
Christine,
Thank you for the ongoing reminder to tend our souls!! I feel nourished just reading your words of invitation.
Wow, amazingly photos. A retreat just to look at them. Thanks.