“The journey, the sacred journey of the universe, is the personal journey of each individual … The universe is the larger self of each person, since the entire sequence of events that has transpired since the beginning of the universe was required to establish each of us in the precise structure of our own being and in the larger context in which we function.”
—Thomas Berry, “Cosmology of Religions,” The Sacred Universe, 122–123
Last weekend Prairiewoods kicked off our 25th Jubilee year with “Flaring Forth into Fullness of Life,” this year’s Spirituality in the 21st Century conference. We welcomed Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, Kathleen Rude and David Abram as co-facilitators, along with the soulful musical accompaniment of Sara Thomsen. As we conceived the event, more than two years ago, we hoped for a journey that reverenced our beginnings, acknowledged our present and offered a glimpse into our future—both as Prairiewoods and as participants in the conference. For me, this was more than achieved, and I left the conference on Saturday afternoon filled with awe for this “commonwealth of breath”—our interbreathing, interconnected and generative Earth.
Beginning Friday night and flowing through Saturday, the conference was a rich tapestry, beautifully weaving together personal reflections, academic information, knowledge of many cultures, story and song. Each facilitator brought unique insights from lives of committed engagement with Spirit: spirit arising, spirit unfolding, spirit emerging.
Each participant will have heard or been inspired by different insights or moments. And I could never give an accurate picture of the awe-inspiring whole. Therefore, I humbly offer one idea from each facilitator that is of special interest or significance to me and that is leading me forward on my own path:
From John Grim, I learned that sensing, minding and creating are ritual pathways that open us up to spirituality.
From Mary Evelyn Tucker, I heard, “We are the water planet! Protecting water is a primary spiritual act.”
Kathleen Rude reminded me that the separation(s) we live with are illusory; we are all inextricably interwoven into the web of life, and the work of reconnecting what has artificially been separated is sacred and can be a wellspring of hope.
From David Abram, I heard the story of our lives in the earth rather than on the earth as we usually say. We interbreathe the atmosphere in which we all exist, and there is “reciprocity tucked into the very moment” of each breath; that we are all “part of the wild intercorporeal life of the land itself.”
As we move forward into this 25th Jubilee year, I feel reverence, joy and gratitude for the way it began. May we all continue “Flaring Forth into Fullness of Life”!
—Jenifer Hanson, Prairiewoods director