Incarnation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An\nEssential Presence<\/strong>\nWednesday, \u202fDecember 23,\n2020<\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>When\nwe use the language of incarnation, we probably first think of Jesus, and then\nperhaps of all the rest of creation. No incarnation can take place, however,\nwithout a very real feminine presence and polarity. We\u2019ve forgotten that\nreality for far too long, which is why we are witnessing such an immense\nlonging for relational, mutually empowering feminine qualities at every level\nof our society. Left primarily in the hands of men for most of history, our\npolitics, our economics, our psyches, our cultures, our patterns of leadership,\nand our theologies have all become far too warlike, competitive,\nindividualistic, mechanistic, and non-contemplative. A simple return to the\nHebrew Scriptures brings us in touch with the feminine, co-creative Spirit of\nGod, also called Sophia (Greek for Wisdom).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>When God fixed\nthe foundations of earth, then was I [Sophia] beside God as artisan; I was\nGod\u2019s delight day by day, playing before God all the while, playing over the\nwhole of God\u2019s earth.<\/em> (Proverbs 8:29\u201331)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As scholar\nChristopher Pramuk writes<\/em>, \u201cSophia is the <em>eros<\/em> of God become one\nwith all creation, the love in God that longs for incarnation from before the\nbeginning. She is the co-creativity of God, always inviting, never compelling,\ncoming to birth in us when we say yes to [what Thomas Merton calls] \u201cthe\ndawning of divine light in the stillness of our hearts.\u201d [1] [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My friend\nMirabai Starr writes about Sophia\u2019s role in incarnation, as taught by the\nmedieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen (1098\u20131179):<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nof Bingen . . . showed [Mother Earth] to us through the church-approved lens of\nMother Mary and Mother Sophia. . . . According to Hildegard, it is Mary who\nspins earthly matter into being and weaves it together with the heavens so that\nall of creation is interpenetrated with the sacred. In Hildegard\u2019s theology,\nMary merges with Sophia, Mother Wisdom, who dips one wing to earth while the\nother soars to heaven and, in her ecstatic flight, quickens life. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nwas smitten with the creator and enamored by every element of creation. Her\nmysticism is intimate\u2014erotic, even. She coined the term <em>viriditas<\/em> to evoke the lush,\nextravagant, moist, and verdant quality of the Divine, manifesting as the\n\u201cgreening power\u201d that permeates all that is [i.e., the spirit within all\nmatter]. This life-giving energy is imbued with a distinctly feminine quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earth is at the same time mother,<br> she is mother of all that is natural,<br> mother of all that is human.<br> She is the mother of all,<br> for contained in her are the seeds of all. [3] For Hildegard, the Son may be the incarnation of the Holy One, but the Mother forms the very stuff from which the Word of God issues forth into the world. The mystical heart of all the world\u2019s religions affirms the profoundly feminine understanding of <em>panentheism<\/em>: that is, all the particles of the universe are infused with the substance of the Divine; God both interpenetrates the universe and is greater than all that is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"345\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-500x345.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19647\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-500x345.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-300x207.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-768x530.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM.png 1846w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Incarnation An Essential Presence Wednesday, \u202fDecember 23, 2020 When we use the language of incarnation, we probably first think of Jesus, and then perhaps of all the rest of creation. No incarnation can take place, however, without a very real feminine presence and polarity. We\u2019ve forgotten that reality for far too long, which is why […]<\/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\/19644"}],"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=19644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19649,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions\/19649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>When\nwe use the language of incarnation, we probably first think of Jesus, and then\nperhaps of all the rest of creation. No incarnation can take place, however,\nwithout a very real feminine presence and polarity. We\u2019ve forgotten that\nreality for far too long, which is why we are witnessing such an immense\nlonging for relational, mutually empowering feminine qualities at every level\nof our society. Left primarily in the hands of men for most of history, our\npolitics, our economics, our psyches, our cultures, our patterns of leadership,\nand our theologies have all become far too warlike, competitive,\nindividualistic, mechanistic, and non-contemplative. A simple return to the\nHebrew Scriptures brings us in touch with the feminine, co-creative Spirit of\nGod, also called Sophia (Greek for Wisdom).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>When God fixed\nthe foundations of earth, then was I [Sophia] beside God as artisan; I was\nGod\u2019s delight day by day, playing before God all the while, playing over the\nwhole of God\u2019s earth.<\/em> (Proverbs 8:29\u201331)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As scholar\nChristopher Pramuk writes<\/em>, \u201cSophia is the <em>eros<\/em> of God become one\nwith all creation, the love in God that longs for incarnation from before the\nbeginning. She is the co-creativity of God, always inviting, never compelling,\ncoming to birth in us when we say yes to [what Thomas Merton calls] \u201cthe\ndawning of divine light in the stillness of our hearts.\u201d [1] [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My friend\nMirabai Starr writes about Sophia\u2019s role in incarnation, as taught by the\nmedieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen (1098\u20131179):<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nof Bingen . . . showed [Mother Earth] to us through the church-approved lens of\nMother Mary and Mother Sophia. . . . According to Hildegard, it is Mary who\nspins earthly matter into being and weaves it together with the heavens so that\nall of creation is interpenetrated with the sacred. In Hildegard\u2019s theology,\nMary merges with Sophia, Mother Wisdom, who dips one wing to earth while the\nother soars to heaven and, in her ecstatic flight, quickens life. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hildegard\nwas smitten with the creator and enamored by every element of creation. Her\nmysticism is intimate\u2014erotic, even. She coined the term <em>viriditas<\/em> to evoke the lush,\nextravagant, moist, and verdant quality of the Divine, manifesting as the\n\u201cgreening power\u201d that permeates all that is [i.e., the spirit within all\nmatter]. This life-giving energy is imbued with a distinctly feminine quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earth is at the same time mother,<br> she is mother of all that is natural,<br> mother of all that is human.<br> She is the mother of all,<br> for contained in her are the seeds of all. [3] For Hildegard, the Son may be the incarnation of the Holy One, but the Mother forms the very stuff from which the Word of God issues forth into the world. The mystical heart of all the world\u2019s religions affirms the profoundly feminine understanding of <em>panentheism<\/em>: that is, all the particles of the universe are infused with the substance of the Divine; God both interpenetrates the universe and is greater than all that is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"345\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-500x345.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19647\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-500x345.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-300x207.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM-768x530.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-23-at-11.07.30-AM.png 1846w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Incarnation An Essential Presence Wednesday, \u202fDecember 23, 2020 When we use the language of incarnation, we probably first think of Jesus, and then perhaps of all the rest of creation. No incarnation can take place, however, without a very real feminine presence and polarity. We\u2019ve forgotten that reality for far too long, which is why […]<\/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\/19644"}],"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=19644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19649,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions\/19649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}