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Does not wisdom cry ? and understanding put forth her voice?

Proverbs 8:1

The Ten Vows

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1. God is the source of liberation.
1. God is the source of liberation.

Aware of the suffering caused by bondage and enslavement to ideas, institutions, people, and things, I vow to free myself from all blindness and captivity, both material and spiritual.

2. God cannot be named.
2. God cannot be named.

Aware of the suffering caused by gods created in our own image for our own profit, I vow to recognize all ideas about God as products of human beings, bound by history and circumstance, and forever incapable of defining the Reality Beyond Naming.

3. God cannot be owned.
3. God cannot be owned.

Aware of the suffering caused by the misuse of God and religion in the quest of power, I vow to liberate myself from all ideologies that demonize others, and to honor only those teachings that uphold the freedom and dignity of woman, man, and nature.

4. Remember the Sabbath.
4. Remember the Sabbath.

Aware of the suffering caused by slavish attachment to work, consumption, and technology, I vow to set aside the Sabbath as a day of personal freedom, creativity, and play.

5. Honor your parents.
5. Honor your parents.

Aware of the suffering caused by old age, I vow to care for my parents to the best of my ability and to promote the dignity and well-being of all elderly people.

6. Respect Life.
6. Respect Life.

Aware of the suffering caused by the wanton destruction of life, I vow to cultivate respect and gentleness toward all beings.

7. Avoid sexual misconduct.
7. Avoid sexual misconduct.

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual irresponsibility, I vow to honor human sexuality and never degrade it through violence, ignorance, selfishness, or deceit.

8. Be Generous.
8. Be Generous.

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, injustice, theft, and oppression, I vow to respect the property of others, to work for the just sharing of resources, and to cultivate generosity in myself and my community.

9. Be Honest.
9. Be Honest.

Aware of the suffering caused by harmful speech, I vow to speak truthfully and with compassion, to avoid gossip and slander, and to refrain from uttering words that cause needless division or discord.

10. Do not covet.
10. Do not covet.

Aware of the suffering caused by endless desire, I vow to live simply and avoid debt, to enjoy what I have before seeking to have more, and to honestly and justly labor for what I desire.

The Ten Practices

Welcome to the Quest for the Light of God

My name is Charlie, and I have practiced Creation Spirituality for 12 years now.  It has brought a lot of meaning and questions into my life.

Wisdom's Cry is my public journal of what I have learned and what I am learning.  I am a seeker,  a believer in exile who has found a path to Jesus through Mary and Creation Spirituality, and that is what I want to share with you.

This is a path we are going to have to walk together.  No one person or institution in the world today has all the answers.  We are going to have seek Wisdom's voice together.  I look forward to the journey.

Peace and Light to you Forever. Amen.

 

Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality

 

1. The universe is fundamentally a blessing. (Read More)
Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.

2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. (Read More) This is panentheism which is not theism (God out there) and not atheism (no God anywhere).
We experience that the Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine.

3. God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as the God in history, as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings.
We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.

4. In our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find our deep and true selves.
Through the arts of meditation and silence we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear into compassion and community.

5. Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:
- awe, delight, amazement (known as the Via Positiva)
- uncertainty, darkness, suffering, letting go (Via Negativa)
- birthing, creativity, passion (Via Creativa)
- justice, healing, celebration (Via Transformativa)
We weave through these paths like a spiral danced, not a ladder climbed.

6. Every one of us is a mystic.
We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover it at any age.

7. Every one of us is an artist.
Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is our prayer and praise (Via Creativa).

8. Every one of us is a prophet.
Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).

9. Diversity is the nature of the Universe. We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.

10. The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion.
We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one another's joys and grieve at one another's sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.

11. There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected from these wells is Deep Ecumenism.
We respect and embrace the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the sacred traditions of the world.

12. Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth.
Ecology is the local expression of cosmology and so we commit to live in light of this value: to pass on the beauty and health of Creation to future generations.

 

Thoughts and Meditations

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