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We invite you to join us every Sunday for this online, interfaith Worship Experience. We are growing a strong, nurturing community and want you to be part!

3^rd Thursdays from 4:30 – 5:45 p.m. Pacific

Donation: Love Offering

     Sept 16: Spiritual practices and the Enneagram

To receive a Zoom link for a session or learn more, email Joanne at joanne@joannedeck.com.

Events inspiring heart, mind and soul https://www.alternatives.org.uk/

Matthew's website, calendar and bookstore: https://www.matthewfox.org/

In September 2020, over a hundred virtual pilgrims joined us on the Hildegard von Bingen Pilgerwanderweg in Germany, where Saint Hildegard speaks! This virtual pilgrimage to the Unruly Mystic concluded on Saint Hildegard’s Feast Day, September 17th. 

This special ecumenical online pilgrimage was created by pilgrim-filmmaker Michael M. Conti, The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard (2014), who took the 85-mile “Hildegard Way” through the Nahe river region in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany in 2019. Hildegard Way was an inspiration from Dr. Annette Esser, the founder of the Scivias Institute for Art and Spirituality in Germany. Dr. Esser speaks in character as “Hildegard” at 10 stations along the trail and gives a small glimpse into the many teachings of Saint Hildegard.  

In 2021, besides making the 12-day recordings available starting each day on September 6, we are offering two days of new virtual events, on Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, 2021. The focus this year is spirituality and creativity as seen through Hildegard's medicine, art, and music. This year's presenters are Dr. Annette Esser, Dr. Rev. Shanon Sterringer, Rev. Matthew Fox, Rev. Susan Springer, and renowned herbalist Brigitte Mars, etc.  

Join us on this live virtual pilgrimage on September 17th with the ringing of the bells from Dr. Rev. Shanon Sterringer's  Hildegard Haus in Ohio. Recordings will be made available for 30 days after the event ends. Sign-up today at SaintHildegard.com

Bookauthority.org just announced their 100 Best Resilience Books of All Time and CSC Member John Robinson's recent book, Aging with Vision, Hope and Courage in a Time of Crisis: Finding Our Way Together, came in at #34. Congratulations, John!

Check it out at https://bookauthority.org/books/best-resilience-books or order through popular online booksellers.

Virginia says, "I am happy to provide the photos to anyone who wants to use them for worship or workshop etc, free of charge. They can contact me at vreasterday@gmail.com I believe these sculptures need to be seen since they have important work to do."

For more information, go to https://www.virginiaeasterday.com

[Disclaimer: I present this essay as a white woman with the intent to challenge white people in their experience of active courage. When I define courage of conviction in this essay, know that black, brown, and all oppressed and marginalized people have learned and acted upon their courage of conviction from a standpoint in this world that I kneel before in reverence. This essay is for white people who have their own set of privileges related to opportunities for action.]

That kind of courage is not what I want to talk about in this essay. We can call that physical courage. That seems to be the type most celebrated. I’ve had that type, too, though not in the fun kind of ways. Many of my experiences of physical courage were prompted by traumatic events, such as the terror of hearing the abuse of my mother in the next room at the age of 3 or full-on adult rage coming at me at age 7. Other experiences of fighting off the grown man sexually assaulting me at age 16, or standing toe to toe with grown men screaming violently at me while still not backing down from my truth. Though I have had the fun kinds of physical courage that were notable to me, I would say I am in the shallow end in the scheme of fun-time physical courage. That is okay with me, because I know I am still a work in progress in this area. What I want to focus on more than physical courage is reflected in the phrase above, not backing down from my truth, and what I will call from here forward, courage of conviction.

I have done this a lot in my life, stood in my courage of conviction, but I did not realize as I was moving through it that it was exceptional. I missed this exceptionalism because acts of courage of conviction are often small and private. There is no audience clapping. There is no immediate reward system in place for it. In fact, it frequently comes with some weighty emotions you have to work through on the other side of it. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons it is not on the top of the ‘to-do’ list for most people. I grew up watching the movies and reading the books with all the great plots leading the protagonist toward a dramatic exhibition of their courage of conviction. I now understand that people are so fascinated by it because they cannot do it or, more importantly, they choose not to do it. In many of these scripted plots, I also see that courage of conviction often ends in a physical fight, wounding, or death, for which none of these actions promote real change. I do not want to say I am some sort of anomaly or superior above others in my actions of courage. The truth is, I cannot stop myself in those moments. This internal drive is not because I am out of control, but because I am very steady, immovable from my path, in a poignant, matter-of-fact way. Steadfastness feels like the most accurate description. When I am in a situation where courage of conviction comes into play for me, it must be acted upon decisively. It is a force that is clear as a bell for me, like a ting on a crystal glass. My focus gets laser-beam sharp. My words become entirely on point about where my boundaries lie, and I feel wholly embodied in whatever that conviction may be.

When this fierceness arises in me, I do not derail and say hateful things. I do not mince words and leave ambiguity in my statements. I do not leave confusion about the resolution. Nor do I sever the relationship, at least not immediately, as I have handed the consequences back to their rightful owner. My courage of conviction is always about consequences. Those consequences that belong to someone else for their poor choices, but they are handing them to you or someone else unfairly. Perhaps they are not giving the consequences to you, but they expect you to clean up the fallout from them. Whereas we can have many types of conviction in this world, my conviction takes the form of I will not take on your consequences. That seems like a simple concept, but apparently, many people do not have the clarity, or perhaps the self-worth, to know when consequences may not belong to them. Nor do they see that the fallout from those consequences is changing them and even harming them somehow. There are only two choices when someone hands you consequences that do not belong to you; either give them fully back to them or betray yourself and take them on as your own. That self-betrayal seems to be the cue for this force in me that rises with ferocity. I am certain that to carry self-betrayal can cause more harm to me than any severed relationship could ever do. I have learned this the hard way in my journey, so please do not think I speak as an infallible expert on courage or someone who has not failed at it as well. Failure begets expertise through correction.

This kind of courage, the courage of conviction, does not always look like it would take courage. Some people may find it very easy to speak for their conviction in one area of life and completely falter in another area. Someone may be tenacious at work with their convictions while continually giving themselves away in their personal relationships, or vice versa. But for anyone who is called to do it, at that moment, it feels immense! It can often feel nothing short of terrifying to take action. That terror comes from this one, non-negotiable truth - to stand in courage of conviction also implies the potentiality for loss, always. These two cannot be separated. For this reason, courage of conviction is not something you figure out and master. It is a growth point for every leveling up you will do as a human being. I will give a few examples through simple but true stories of events in my life. They may not seem monumental or plot-worthy, but they are real.

As a quick side note, a little commentary on my boss then, because I think it will make you enjoy the next scene even more. Maybe not, but it makes me enjoy it more! He was one of those 90’s dudes, no other noun than dudes will capture it as well. The kind of dude that drove a Porsche and flipped the collar of his shirts up behind his neck. He also would throw tantrums like a pubescent teen, and once threw a typewriter across the room. He could have been the poster child for the greedy, slimy white dudes of the subprime market. The same type that fueled the scandal of the now-defunct Enron Corporation, for those who remember.

I didn’t quit that day, and they did hire a receptionist, a young Latina female. She was competent, but often in my office crying because of the sexual innuendos she would endure from the upper-level investors. I, too, had those experiences as it was rampant in the ’90s. One of these investors blatantly crossed the line one day and made a sexually loaded comment that was undeniable. I tackled this slight as well, of course. This instance was a march into the office of the next boss higher up on the pay grade, in which I unequivocally stated, ‘You better get your cronies in check. They are not to speak to my receptionist. They are not to hover around her desk. They check-in and move through. If you do not tell them, I will, and I can promise you, they will like your delivery a whole lot more than mine!’ He knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Sexual harassment in the workplace was rampant, but these were the years of the burgeoning of sexual harassment exposure in the media. Certainly not what it is in today’s climate, but women had some leverage thanks to Anita Hill. Not to mention all of Bill Clinton’s accusers, though the big scandal had not happened yet. This upper-level investor also knew I did not like him. He did not like me either. Probably my conviction, but, perhaps, my smart mouth and direct approach to matters. But I was smart, and straightforward, and these were likely the same reasons they did not fire me though I am sure my boss went to bat for me more times than I know. I wish with every cell in my body that I had turned them in for discrimination over refusing to hire the young black candidate. I am so very, very sorry that I did not. I am certain they intentionally hired a Latina to fill that position to cover themselves if I did file a discrimination complaint. I do not say that to downplay her need for equality as well, nor her competency. This is undoubtedly how an ‘equality competition’ gets forced on marginalized communities, by oppressors choosing who they will allow and who they will not. It is disgusting. Looking back at that point in history, my complaint would not have gotten the outcome I would have wanted, but it would have added to the awareness-of-systemic-racism file. I messed up and dropped the ball with that follow-through as well. I am very ashamed of that lack of awareness in me.

Effective courage of conviction takes a lot of awareness of what is happening around you. I am increasingly grateful that my personal experience of this action-oriented process gives me a head start by promoting clarity through this innate forceful energy. But even with that intensity propelling me, I have not always followed it through to the full action needed, meaning beyond taking on the individual but taking on the whole institution. Life experience has taught me much, and I now always double-check my follow-through. I do not, however, see in this world enough people that are willing to take on even the individual, much less the departments above them. If you do not dare to take on a person, how do we break down these institutions made up of all those persons? Why are people so lacking in courage to stand up to other people? I have thought about this question a great deal because of my experiences and because of other people’s responses to my experiences or actions. Here are a few of the adjectives for which people have described me over the years: firecracker, hard-headed, strong-willed, bitch, and, this one descriptive phrase still infuriates me, ‘you think like a man’ (said by a man I was standing up to, of course). I know that there are many answers to why people do not stand up to others that vary across a landscape that is heavily influenced by gender stereotypes, religious tropes, mutated definitions of civility and manners, and ever-present, flagrant manipulation of marketing tactics. However, the one cause I see at the root, even below all these other influences, is capitalism. People are scared to lose their money source, and for many, that is a genuine fear. Make no mistake, standing in the courage of your conviction will result in a loss, a loss of something, and that something often manifests in a subsequent loss of a money source. I did not have that paralyzing fear in my twenties. I was raised poor, so I knew what it was like to have less than others. Throughout those early adult years, I knew that I may not have anyone I could fall back on for assistance. In all seriousness, I once in those early years asked my mother for $50 to help cover the electric bill, and she started crying because she did not have it. I never asked for money again. My electricity got cut off for three days while I waited for my next paycheck. I was terrified the maintenance man for the apartment complex would see the tag, report me, and I would get evicted because you are not allowed to let any of your utilities lapse (when you’re poor, you know these things). I did not get evicted, though I did other times in early adulthood because I could not pay rent. I understand not having a money source.

For hundreds of millions of years when fire burned, plants succumbed and animals fled. Fire carved out landscapes and remade ecosystems. This wild and unique capacity belonged exclusively to fire until a million and a half years ago, when a particular animal, a hominid called homo erectus, encountered fire and unlike other creatures, did not flee. Homo erectus was instead fascinated by fire: fascinated by its power and its possibilities. In that early human, Fire evoked Imagination.

With imagination lit by fire, homo erectus becomes the earliest human ancestor to venture en masse out of Africa. Later hominids will follow this groundbreaking pattern: departing from the homeland in waves, eventually expanding over the globe until all habitable environments are populated.

In the ‘cradle of civilization’ – Mesopotamia circa 2000 BCE – both astronomy and astrology develop in ancient Babylonia. Astrology, with its focus on individual relations and Earthly events, echoed the connection of human and cosmos prevalent in indigenous culture. Although astrology as a formal discipline continued into the 18^th century, its influence and efficacy were entirely superseded by astronomy by the 16^th century. Through astronomy, civilization expanded its knowledge of the universe while simultaneously divorcing the human from any personal relation to it.

Common to each of these interpretations is the orientation of humans arising from and related to primary Earth and universe processes. Subsequently, the Greeks will distance their thinking from these ponderings, and develop physics – the study of natural events based on experiment and quantification – commencing with the works of Archimedes (c.250 BCE). Physics will come to fruition in the 16^th century, contributing significantly to the advent of the Scientific Revolution. Our empirical knowledge grows, as our relation to the phenomena described shrinks, and eventually vanishes.

Alchemy’s beginnings in the West date from the third century. However, it is in Moslem civilization of the 8^th and 9^th centuries that the study of alchemy matures. Arab alchemical practitioners explore the relation between altering matter, and personal transmutation and purification. In the 17^th century alchemy is overshadowed by its successor, chemistry, and the connection of Earth and human aspiration is severed.

A final instance is the study of vitalism, with roots in ancient Egypt, but reaching a culmination in European civilization of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Vitalism proposed that living beings are distinguished from non-living entities because they possess a ‘vital spark’ or soul. During the 20^th century vitalism as an explanation of life dynamics was replaced by the emerging science of biology. Biology subsequently conjoined with evolutionary theory, undermining any fundamental connection of life with soul.

Creation Spirituality Communities, Inc. (CSC) is a network of individuals and communities who are grounded in the sacredness of all creation and seek to connect to the spirituality of creation through mysticism, creativity, and cultural transformation.

Below are the Creation Spirituality Communities that we are aware are meeting on a regular basis. If you are participating in a community or CS circle that is not included on this list, please let us know by writing to contact@cscommunities.org.