Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Michael Landon

I am delighted to share another guest post from one of our wonderful Wisdom Council members! This week we hear from Rev. Dr. Michael Landon.  I first met Michael a couple of years ago when he participated in our Awakening the Creative Spirit intensive and found kinship with him through his work with grief and lament.  He has a written a beautiful book, Grieving Hearts in Worship: A Ministry Resource, which explores the essential role of ritual in healing from losses of all kinds. Read on for Michael's reflections:

Michael LandonWhen I sit at my computer in my home office, my eyes are frequently drawn to three areas; each speaking to my unfolding understanding of what it means to be a monk and artist in the world today. One is a beautifully carved finger meditation labyrinth. It sits on a ledge that hangs on a wall in front of me, with the shimmering grains of walnut wood inviting me to follow the path into the center and back out again.  On the same wall, but to the left is a framed print of one of my favorite images – St. Benedict cupping his ear as a reminder to listen with the ear of your heart.  The third area is below the labyrinth where I have built a prayer alter of sorts. Intentionally placed are bits and pieces of past and present encounters with God’s presence; each item inviting me to ponder and reflect anew; each a shimmer of God’s love, each a gift received.

The labyrinth is frequently a metaphor for me that points towards a journey or the path life. I was first introduced to the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA while doing my training to become a spiritual director. I will never forget standing in line waiting to enter the labyrinth as I watched the many participants walking, I was witnessing a human tapestry being woven as each person walked or danced – allowing the Spirit to guide their steps and movement. It was the most sacred space I had ever been in at that time of my life. Subsequently I trained with Lauren Artress to become a labyrinth facilitator and traveled with her and Veriditas to Chartres, France for a week of immersion into the Chartres labyrinth and a deepening of my spiritual journey. It was while I was walking the labyrinth in Chartres just before returning home that I had an epiphany of awareness, that seeing people gathered from all around the globe – tourists, pilgrims, participants in the same program, those who knew the labyrinth was there and those who did not – we each were traveling on the same journey, on the same path, but just didn’t realize it and what a marvelous thing it will be when there is greater awareness of our interconnection with one another and the Divine. The labyrinth reminds me to listen to my body, to find my own pace and balance, to be aware of what is happening deep within as well as all around me. It is a path that draws us in to a place of peace and wholeness, while being able to face our fears and name our desires, and to hear the voice of God. It is also a path that is often not straight, but curves and twists.

To follow the spiritual path one must learn to listen and take a long loving look at the real. I think this is why I find myself drawn to St Benedict and his invitation to listen with the ear of my heart. Listening with the ear of our heart involves getting in touch with a burning desire, hope and longing that comes from deep within; revealing the essence of God’s love deeply rooted in each one of us. Listening with the ear of our heat is a listening to the stirrings within that are of God.  It is seeing our whole being through the eyes of love; where we can hear God say to us from the beginning of creation, when God looked upon the man and woman – upon you and me – “And it is VERY good.” Genesis 1:31 NRSV emphasis added) Listening with the ear of our heart is tapping into an inner depth that claims the truth of being created in the image of God; in the image of love.  Listening in this way is a remembering that our bodies are sacred temples that contain the very essence of God deep within.

My prayer alter is a collection of items, images and words that have been gathered throughout my life – including my early childhood stuffed animal, a bright red fox. Each item stirs a memory of some aspect of my life journey; inviting me not only to remember and savor past experiences and awareness’s, but to continue to listen and notice God’s presence in the moment and to gain a sense of where God may be leading me in the future. My prayer alter is an invitation to slow down and breathe deeply. This has become especially important as I learn to live in the midst of chronic illness. Having this place of rest and focus helps me to realize that God is not finished with me yet. Though my life has taken a dramatic turn from what I once thought it would be; God’s creative energy flows through me in new and surprising ways.

It is through God’s creative energy that I am able to reach out to others through writing, poetry, spiritual direction, grief work, and even a little water color painting. So being a monk and an artist in the world today is for me about following the path, listening deeply, pausing and taking a deep breath, and finding creative ways of expressing and being present to others; it is also allowing myself to look and see with new eyes as deepening awareness continues to unfold.

The Petals Drop

The petals drop
giving the illusion of death
The petals drop
revealing a new beauty,
a new way of seeing and being
The petals drop
spreading their color across the table
joining and transforming what is there
The petals drop
revealing the naked seeds and stem
revealing their own sacred pattern of life and beauty
The petals drop
bringing transformation

Michael Landon 3 Michael Landon 2 Michael Landon 1

 

Read more about Michael's work here>>

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8 Comments August 7, 2013

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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