Recovering Creation, Gratitude and Ritual

I was energized to read GG’s recent DMs (here, here, and here) about his workshop/retreat in Sardinia for 45 people who underwent rituals and other practices to connect to the collective memory of our ancestors there. And to learn of the energy that was raised by the experience. Ritual is always in some ways a connecting to our ancestors, known and unknown.

GG reminded us that Rabbi Heschel says all Jewish liturgy can be summarized in one word: “Remember.” And memory is the very meaning of zikr, the key Sufi ritual dance. Of course Jesus said at the last supper, “Do this in memory of me” and Christians repeat those words in their liturgies in his name. As we do in our Cosmic Masses that we have been celebrating for 30 years in many venues in North America.

One reason that memory is integral to ritual is that such gatherings are gatherings primarily of public or community Gratitude. They constitute a group gratitude celebration. Aquinas says the essence of the Sabbath is gratitude for existence.

What are we grateful for? For existence; the universe; the cosmos; the earth; our breath; our bodies granting us ability to breathe. For “isness” (Meister Eckhart’s word: “Isness is God” he says.) For nature. For all that allows us to live life and fully. For earth, air, fire, water and spirit. For creation, therefore.

For original blessing or original goodness that creation is, and how it has brought us through a 13.8 billion year journey preparing the way for us, beginning with the “big (silent) bang,” the fireball birthing hydrogen and helium atoms, the birth of galaxies, supernovas, stars, planets including our very special, spectacular and beautiful-beyond-words planet, for our parents, grandparents and their grandparents and all who birthed them.

All humans have placed this desire to celebrate and connect with the whole, with the universe, at the center of their rituals in order to bring the human psyche and memory in alliance with the powers of the universe that have brought us here. This is what Newgrange was about in Ireland, built before the pyramids, and what Stonehenge was about in aligning the human community to the wonders of the sky and seasons.

In his brilliant two-volume series on Science and Spiritual Practices and Ways To Go Beyond and Why They Work, British scientist Rupert Sheldrake underscores the role of gratitude and ritual in the history of our species. Chapter titles from the first book help to name some of the elements of authentic ritual such as “The Flow of Gratitude;” “Reconnecting with the More-Than-Human World;” “Rituals and the Presence of the Past;” “Singing, Chanting and the Power of Music;” “Pilgrimages and Holy Places.” (GG’s experience of Sardinia seems to echo that chapter.)

It is a wonderful thing that scientists are beginning to explore the meaning and power of ritual that has been an earmark of our species from the get-go. And posing questions such as this: “Why Do Spiritual Practices Work?” (The last chapter in Rupert’s second book on spiritual practices.) How the awe of existence elicits group response including Thank You’s.

And of course it only makes sense that scientists are on board when one talks about “creation,” “nature” or “existence.” It’s their job/vocation/calling after all, to explore and examine such wonders or miracles.

As Teilhard de Chardin put it, The cosmic sense must have been born as soon as humanity found itself facing the frost, the sea and the stars. And since then we find evidence of it in all our experience of the great and unbounded: in art, in poetry, and in religion. Good ritual marries art, poetry, science, religion. 

To be continued.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.

Banner Image: The entrance to Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland. Photo by Jule_Berlin. Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

How do you remember? And thank? Alone? And with others?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

“Six Steps to Redeeming Worship in the West,” in Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 212-228. 

Christian Mystics, p. 224. 

“Ritual: Where the Great Work of the Universe and the Work of the People Come Together,” in Fox, The Reinvention of Work, pp. 249-295. 

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality. 

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth. 

Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet. 

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice. 

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality. 

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times. 

Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart. 

Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times.