{"id":19149,"date":"2020-08-03T09:13:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T13:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19149"},"modified":"2020-08-03T10:52:41","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T14:52:41","slug":"viriditas-the-greening-of-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19149","title":{"rendered":"Viriditas: The Greening of Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"248\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-8.48.46-AM-500x248.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19154\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-8.48.46-AM-500x248.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-8.48.46-AM-300x149.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-8.48.46-AM-768x381.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-8.48.46-AM.png 1198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rhineland Mystics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Viriditas<\/strong><\/em><strong>: The Greening of Things<\/strong><br>\nMonday, \u202fAugust 3, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6glQdaQUZ1U\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Hildegard\nis not only mystic; she is also prophet. . . . She disturbs the complacent,\ndeliberately provoking the privileged, be they emperors or popes, abbots or\narchbishops, monks or princes to greater justice and deeper sensitivity to the\noppressed. . . . She can rightly be called the \u201cGrandmother of the Rhineland\nmystic movement\u201d . . . [which] brought the powers of mysticism to bear not on\nsupporting the status quo, but on energizing the prophetic in society and\nchurch. For Hildegard, justice plays a dominant role.<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014Matthew Fox<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout\nthe ages, mystics have kept alive the awareness of our union with God and thus\nwith everything. What some now call creation spirituality or the holistic\nGospel was voiced long ago by the Desert Fathers and Mothers in Africa, some\nEastern Orthodox Fathers, ancient Celts, many of the Rhineland mystics, and of\ncourse Francis of Assisi. I am sorry to say that many women mystics were not\neven noticed. Julian of Norwich (c. 1343\u2013c. 1416) and Hildegard of Bingen\n(1098\u20131179) would be two major exceptions, though even they have often been\noverlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nwrote in her famous book <em>Scivias:<\/em>&nbsp;\u201cYou understand so little of what is around\nyou because you do not use what is within you.\u201d [1] This is key to\nunderstanding Hildegard. Without using the word, Hildegard recognized that the\nhuman person is a <em>microcosm<\/em>&nbsp;with a natural affinity for or resonance with\nthe <em>macrocosm<\/em>, which many of us would\ncall God. We are each \u201cwhole\u201d and yet part of a larger Whole. Our little world\nreflects the big world. <em>Resonance<\/em>&nbsp;is the key word here, and <em>contemplation<\/em>&nbsp;is the key\npractice. <em>Contemplation is\nthe end of all loneliness because it erases the separateness between the\nobserver and the observed,<\/em>&nbsp;allowing us to <em>resonate<\/em>&nbsp;with what is right\nin front of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nspoke often of <em>viriditas<\/em>, the greening of things from\nwithin, analogous to what we now call photosynthesis. She saw that there was a\nreadiness in plants to receive the sun and to transform its light and warmth\ninto energy and life. She recognized that there is an inherent connection\nbetween the Divine Presence and the physical world. This Creator-to-created\nconnection translates into inner energy that is the soul and seed of every\nthing, an inner voice calling us to \u201cbecome who you are; become all that you\nare.\u201d This is our life wish or \u201cwhole-making instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard is a\nwonderful example of someone who lives safely inside an entirely integrated\ncosmology. In her holistic understanding of the universe, the inner shows\nitself in the outer, and the outer reflects the inner. The individual reflects\nthe cosmos, and the cosmos reflects the individual. Hildegard sings, \u201cO Holy\nSpirit, . . . you are the mighty way in which every thing that is in the\nheavens, on the earth, and under the earth, is penetrated with connectedness,\nis penetrated with relatedness.\u201d [2] <em>This\nis a true, natural, and integrated Trinitarian metaphysics (what is) and\nepistemology (how we know what is), both at the same time!<\/em>&nbsp;Perhaps many Christians overlooked Hildegard\u2019s\ngenius because we ourselves have not been very Trinitarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rhineland Mystics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nNeed for Mysticism<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fAugust 2, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We live in a time of both crisis and\nopportunity. While there are many reasons to be anxious, I still have hope.\nWesterners, including Christians, are rediscovering the value of nonduality: a\nway of thinking, acting, reconciling, boundary-crossing, and bridge-building\nbased on inner experience of God and God\u2019s Spirit moving in the world. We\u2019re\nnot throwing out our rational mind, but we\u2019re adding nondual, mystical,\ncontemplative consciousness. When we have both, we\u2019re able to see more broadly,\ndeeply, wisely, and lovingly. We can collaborate on creative solutions to\ntoday\u2019s injustices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m glad there\u2019s renewed appreciation in the Christian\ntradition for people who modeled such wholeness. This week I\u2019ll turn toward my\nown cultural roots in the Rhineland. These mystics were mostly German-speaking\nspiritual writers, preachers, and teachers, who lived largely between the 11th\nand 15th centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might already be familiar with the Benedictines,\nHildegard of Bingen (1098\u20131179) and Gertrude the Great (1256\u20131302); the Beguine\nMechtild of Magdeburg (c. 1212\u2013c. 1282); the Dominicans, including Meister\nEckhart (c. 1260\u20131327), Johannes Tauler (c. 1300\u20131361), and Henry Suso\n(1295\u20131366); and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401\u20131464), in what is now\nSwitzerland. Another Rhineland mystic in recent history who might surprise you\nwas psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875\u20131961). Jung admits to being influenced\nby Hildegard, Eckhart, and Nicholas of Cusa\u2014especially Nicholas\u2019 fascination\nwith \u201cthe opposites.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the Protestant Reformation, the mystical path was\nlargely mistrusted. Some would even say it was squelched because of Martin\nLuther\u2019s (1483-1546) emphasis on Scripture as the only source of knowledge\nabout God (<em>sola Scriptura<\/em>).\nTo be fair, Luther\u2019s contributions led Christians to an early stage \u201crational\u201d\nuse of the Scriptures as a corrective to Catholic over-spiritualization. Within\nhis own Lutheran tradition, profound mystics arose such as the German shoemaker\nJacob Boehme (1575\u20131624) and the inventor Emanuel Swedenborg (1688\u20131772).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the following centuries, German academic theology\nflourished, relying almost exclusively on Post-Reformation rationalism. While\ntheological study continues to be an immense gift to the world, one can easily\nget trapped inside of endless <em>discussions<\/em>\nabout abstract ideas with little emphasis on experience or practice. In\ncontrast, mystics honor the experience of the essential mystery and\nunknowability of God and invite us to do the same. The more you know, the more\nyou know you <em>don\u2019t know<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the next couple of days, we\u2019ll focus on one Rhineland mystic in particular: Hildegard of Bingen. She was far ahead of her place and time, a Renaissance woman before the Renaissance, who led a monastery north of the Alps. Hildegard combined art, music, poetry, ecology, medicine, community, healing, and early feminism. She preached on her own, stood up to bishops, and was persecuted for it. No wonder it took a German Pope, Benedict XVI, over 800 years after her death to declare her a saint in May, 2012, and then name her a Doctor of the Church on October 7, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"295\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-10.51.53-AM-500x295.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19157\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-10.51.53-AM-500x295.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-10.51.53-AM-300x177.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-10.51.53-AM-768x454.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-03-at-10.51.53-AM.png 1892w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rhineland Mystics Viriditas: The Greening of Things Monday, \u202fAugust 3, 2020 Hildegard is not only mystic; she is also prophet. . . . She disturbs the complacent, deliberately provoking the privileged, be they emperors or popes, abbots or archbishops, monks or princes to greater justice and deeper sensitivity to the oppressed. . . . [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19149"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19158,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19149\/revisions\/19158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}