Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

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      • 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
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        Earth as the Original Sacrament
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        Earth as the Original Liturgy
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  • 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
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      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
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      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
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    • Walk the Ancient Paths: Pilgrimage
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      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
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      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
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      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
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      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
    • 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
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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Jean Wise

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jean Wise's reflection Living in the Shade of Mystery.

I don’t understand fishing.

I don’t fish. I didn’t grow up in a family who fishes. All those hooks, worms, and slimy flip-floppy critters baffle me.

Perhaps the biggest hindrance for fishing for me is the idea of “wasting” a full day, with a pole dipped in the water, waiting. Lingering in the muddy space of not knowing if and when the bait will work and supper caught.

In my second half of life, I am learning the language fishing speaks. As a monk in the world, I am slowly realizing the lessons of rest, wait, and unknown outcomes, symbolized in a pole and hook.

Life is like a day of fishing.

We live in the realm of gray uncertainty.

We dwell in the murkiness of questions, not clear answers.

We slowly move forward into the foggy journey of life, often only seeing one step ahead, instead of an obvious destination.

Not certain if and when I will catch that elusive fish, I live scanning the murky water of mystery.

I used to seek the perfect path and want those well-known and predictable ends. Easy clear routes to the known are more comfortable than being stretched into uncertainty. I only wanted the sunshine and clear weather and I treasured the good days.

I thought joy came from clarity and predictability. And security came from control. My control.

But now I understand life arrives both clean and dirty, happy and sad, full and empty. We live in an illusion of certainty with little control. I dance now to the music of mystery. I am finding comfort in the cool shade of uncertainty.

Like the flashing highway sign, I know life presents times to “expect delays” or to encounter “detours ahead.” Often these side trips offer the best adventures on a vacation.

When I don’t know everything, or have all of pieces fitting into the perfect place, I discover ways to be creative and to envision life from a new point of view.

I see the world as floating on an ocean, the current decided by a creator higher than myself who sees and knows the whole story, not the tiny view I have from my dinghy.

I am learning to embrace and live with the questions life brings with wonder and imagination. It’s ok to doubt, to welcome unknowns, to walk alongside of my fears and my hurts and listen to their stories.

Instead of wasting energy trying to control and predict my every move, I am enjoying the wind in my hair and the relaxation in the wait.

I am learning, still learning, to accept the depths of doubts. My ego and my emotions cling to the side of the pool, instead of swimming in the deep end, but at least I am finally in the water. I dive in with courage.

The truth is we never are in control or will live without some risk. Being a monk means taking the leap into the wild and wondrous river of life and laughing while riding the rapids.

As life overflows with ambiguity and vagueness, I discover the beauty in its shades. Amid the daily ordinary mud of life, I see prisms of light and enjoy pauses of peace.

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next." ~ Gilda Radner

I still don’t fish, but now I understand its lure. I embrace this gift of the unknown, full of mystery, uncertainties, and waiting. And I cast my pole into the sea of life and listen to its lessons.


Jean Wise is a writer and speaker at retreats, gatherings, and seminars. She is a spiritual director and Deacon for her local church. Jean lives in northwest Ohio with her husband enjoying their empty nest. Find out more at her website: www.jeanwise.org or her blog: www.healthyspirituality.org.

 

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2 Comments September 6, 2017

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

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

Recent Reflections

  • 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
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior
  • Celebrate the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle podcast with us!

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