Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

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    • Prayer Cycle
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    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
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  • Books
    • Breath Prayer:
      An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
    • 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
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Book Club – March 2021)
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
      • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Sacred Balance:
        Aligning Body and Spirit Through
        Yoga and the Benedictine Way
    • 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 (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
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Uncategorized

Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks (a love note from your online Abbess)

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st francisDearest monks and artists,

I have been engaged in much reflection and wonderful conversation with the Wisdom Council while I take my summer break from teaching.  Did you see the video last week of the Catholic bishops gathered in Brazil with the Pope dancing freely?  It was very inspiring, especially in light of what I have been pondering this summer.

I have long wanted to articulate more clearly what this community is about, and so this week I bring you the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks (and like everything, a work in progress):

Abbey of the Arts is a growing global community and virtual monastery.  It is co-created by those who long to live into the monk and artist path more fully, knowing the depth and meaning to be found in them.

For those of you who want to affiliate with this community, I invite you to consider joining the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks!

Why a "Disorder"?

Abba Antony said to Abba Joseph, “How would you explain this saying?” and he replied, “I do not know.” Then Abba Anthony said, “Indeed, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he has said: “I do not know.” —Antony the Great 

This world, this reality, revealed by God speaking to us, is not the kind of world to which we are accustomed.  It is not a neat and tidy world in which we are in control- there is mystery everywhere that takes considerable getting used to, and until we do, it scares us. —Eugene Peterson

The heart of the contemplative life is never about escaping the world, but plunging ourselves fully into the heart of messiness and mystery.

As we deepen on the contemplative journey, our aim is to release our attempts at controlling our lives and surrendering into a far greater Mystery than our egos can contain. There are no step-by-step plans, only daily practice and immersion in the messiness of life as it comes.  We live into the questions, as the poet Rilke so wisely wrote, rather than trying to find the answers.  We practice being uncomfortable. We move more deeply into unknowing.

We follow the trail of the desert mothers and fathers, who traveled out to the heart of wild places to discover their own edges, to be stripped of false idols, to release certainty and control, and to encounter the God who is far beyond their limited imagination.  We are also called to step out into this wilderness by showing up to life fully and embracing the disorder to be found there as precisely the place where the holy dwells and shimmers.

When we reach for control and conformity, we effectively squelch the Spirit at work in the world. We recognize the health and vitality to be found in diversity, and the free exchange of ideas as keeping us awake to what we most deeply believe. Creativity arises in response to what life offers us. To be an artist means to create out of the materials given.

Why Dancing?

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. —Exodus 15:20

David danced before God with all his might. —2 Samuel 6:14

If only we can bring the wisdom of the body to consciousness, spirit will no longer be homesick for home. —Marion Woodman

As the Buddhist teacher Reginald Ray writes in his book Touching Enlightenment, our bodies are the last unexplored wilderness. We live so far removed from the sensual and incarnational realities of embodied life which offer us a deep source of wisdom and place of encounter with God.

Like the early desert monks, we are called to stay in the midst of wilderness for the sake of deepening into the divine mystery.  Not just to bide our time, waiting for a way out of the messiness, but to dance right in the midst of it, to connect to the rhythm of life and trust that love is the fundamental force sustaining us.

Dancing may mean literally moving your body in response to the music of life, but it is also a metaphor for living from a full-bodied, contemplative awareness of the gift our physicality offers to us. It means living as if the incarnation really were true and matters deeply. The split between head and body is at the root of so many divisions in our world. We are in exile and being called home. When we attend to the body's wisdom with reverence, it offers us holy directions for our lives.

We are a radically inclusive tribe, living out the ancient paths of monk and artist as witness to an alternative way of being in the world.  All are welcome.  Bring your doubts, your questions, your laments, your celebrations. It all belongs.

We all need kindred spirits along the way.  My hope at the Abbey is that you find them  online, through the virtual dimensions of this work, as well as make live connections with other monks and artists in your local communities to help start a contemplative and creative revolution!

This place is a temenos, a sacred space and container for your own inner work.  In the Greek imagination, a temenos is a sanctuary.  For Carl Jung, it was a safe place where soul-making happens. The call is for the fruits of this inner work to be shared generously with the world.

Do you. . . ?

  • Do you long to cultivate a spacious and holy rhythm to your days?
  • Do you want to "live the questions" rather than find certain answers, believing in the grace of honest doubt and struggle?
  • Do you feel called to claim the sacred lineage of ancient monastic paths and bring that wisdom to the world?
  • Do you seek the sacred in all things, circumstances, and people, right in the midst of life's messiness?
  • Do you desire to plunge into the heart of your own creative upwelling, knowing that when you make space for life to become art, you cooperate with the Great Artist at work?
  • Do you honor the profound dignity of each person, regardless of culture, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, or religious beliefs?
  • Do you long for a community of kindred spirits who also seek this contemplative and creative path, as a radically alternative way of being?
  • Do you believe that the earth is our first monastery, shimmering with holy wisdom, and calling us to intimacy and simplicity?

Crossing Thresholds

There are many thresholds to the process of becoming a dancing monk.  It is a lifelong journey, but here are some ways to begin.  This isn't meant to be a linear path of things to check off a list (and definitely not your 10-step plan to achieve inner peace!), but invitations which weave together to create a life of depth and service:

  1. Subscribe to the Abbey newsletter and participate in the free 7-day e-course on becoming a monk in the world (7-week format also available).  Really let yourself integrate the materials and reflect on the teachings there.  Notice your own places of resistance and growth.  Read your online Abbess' love notes and reflect on how they stir your own soul's longings.
  2. Sign the Monk Manifesto, making a commitment to live out its principles in your daily life.
  3. Commit to some central practices: lectio divina and practicing resurrection are two wonderful places to begin. Notice what rhythms contribute to your own flourishing. Seek out places for generosity and service.
  4. Find spiritual support in your community through a soul friend or spiritual director. If you are unable to find a spiritual director in your community, several of the Wisdom Council members are available by Skype, phone, or email for soul care and support.
  5. Tell others you are a "dancing monk" when asked about your spiritual practice.
  6. Participate in our monthly Poetry Parties, Photo Parties, and community lectio divina practices, as a way of staying connected to this vibrant larger community.
  7. Join Abbey classes as you are able for deep soul support with others, either online in community or self-study, or live and in person.
  8. Gather your own small group community.  Invite 2 or 3 friends to gather regularly and pray lectio divina together, or move through one of Christine's books together.  Having soulful conversations opens us to new possibilities.
  9. Share and sustain the monk revolution by becoming a monk in the world and sharing the Abbey with others in your emails and conversations. Let your commitment to nurturing silence, spaciousness, slowness, and beauty spill over into your interactions.  Witness to this alternative way of being in the world.
  10. When your practice falters, remember to always begin again, and again, and again. . .

If this path calls to you, then as the Irish say, a hundred thousand welcomes!

Welcome to this Circle: A song to welcome you, from our Wisdom Council member Trish Bruxvoort Colligan

If this path resonates with your heart, please consider sharing this post with a friend or on Facebook and in the subject line write: I am a dancing monk!

Christine Valters PaintnerWith great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE www.AbbeyoftheArts.com
*Photo: Dancing St. Francis of Assisi sculpture outside of the Cathedral in Santa Fe, NM

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2 Comments August 8, 2013

Upcoming Programs

  • The Two HT’s Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman on Being Free with Therese Taylor-Stinson
    • Apr 17, 2021
  • Writing Into Bloom with Christine Valters Paintner
    • May 1, 2021
  • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • May 13, 2021
  • View All Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Greta Kopec
  • Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – April Video Discussion and Book Group Materials Now Available
  • Hildy Tails 12: Is ait an mac an saol ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Easter Blessings + An Elemental Journey ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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