Divine Creativity

I wasn't raised in the Church.  I got to God by other means.  But each time I went to Church with friends, I felt confused by the sermons that spoke in unfamiliar lingo and seemed to make God so certain and predictable.  I felt ashamed that they had such certainty, and I kept questioning.  Fast forward to seminary. I learned that certainty isn't faith; rather it's questions and doubt that affirm faith in action.  I believe we must start discussing more theology in contemporary churches.  Why not introduce congregants to the depth of Christian thinking from Iranaeus to Kierkegaard? I believe that People are hungry for it.  

Divine Creativity

Beatrice Bruteau (1930–2014)

The traditional understanding of the Incarnation is that the Person of Christ subsists in two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. But Christ is only one Person, the divine Person called “the Word.” . . . What would seem to be the [opposites] of Being are held together in the intimate union of a single Person. Without ceasing to be God, the Word becomes human. And without ceasing to be incarnate as a human being, this Person is divine.

It seems impossible, but this is what Christians claim we believe. . . . Indeed, we could never have proposed such a thought to ourselves if we had not sensed its reality in ourselves. We do not pretend to understand the Incarnation in an analytical abstract way. We rather understand it in an experiential way. We know what it means because we resonate with it in our own being. Whatever meaning it has for us comes from the deepest level of our sense of our own reality. . . .

In the case of the cosmos, we can say that God as Creator is incarnate as self-creating universe, including self-creating creatures within that universe, such as, for instance, ourselves as human beings. Creativity itself is what’s evolving in the cosmos, and . . . we are in a position to realize ourselves as incarnate divine creativity. 

This has two effects. It makes the whole thing intensely meaningful. . . . We are part of this, creative contributors to this. And this is the other effect: we bear some responsibility. We have to take our part in the work.

Trust in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

"We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Written in 2018 while undergoing diagnostics for Autoimmune  Dysautonomia.

I took this picture yesterday after completing 40 minutes of electric shocks to my major nerves (a wonderful test called an EMG), while awaiting the next phase - shocks with NEEDLES!  (Little did I know that this was the easy emg. The sfemg that came later in 2019 involed needles, digging and shocks in the corner of my eye for an hour.)

This has been a non-dualistic journey...both a vacation with my daughter and a medical investigation into the mystery of invisible illness. While it is good news that the test came back negative, the unknown remains a very difficult space. 

We must continue hunting for the diagnosis, which means more discomfort - more MRIs, a hip tap, potentially a muscle biopsy, and anything else they can think of to figure out what is wrong with me. In the midst of this diagnostic process, however, i find myself struggling with doubt. I believe this is human. It's a survival mechanism in the face of pain, discomfort and judgement; it is ultimately a manifestation of shame. 

As I was falling asleep last night, exhausted and suffering with a migraine induced by the electric shocks, I found myself wondering..."Why am i hunting for what's wrong with me? Maybe I could just make the decision to be better, and that will do the trick? What if this is all in my head?" 

I noticed my internal dialogue, and recognized it as the same voice that kept me going on the treadmill during my days with an eating disorder. The voice sounds like that of a drill seargent, telling me that I lack discipline and forcing me to keep going beyond my own capacity. This voice has been a useful survival skill over the years, but it no longer serves me. The voice of shame, doubt and criticism isn't confined to my own internal dialogue, however, as I deal with the judgements of doctors, friends, family and others. Undergoing the torture of diagnosis is bad enough...encountering doctors that don't understand is equally terrible...but the hardest part is staring into the abyss of the unknown and wishing that you could just decide to be better. 

No one would choose this path willingly. And yet, in the face of the unknown, I must keep walking. It would be so much easier to believe that there's nothing wrong, but you can't make this up. In fact, we often joke in the rare disease community that if I were to fake it, I'd make up something much more believable! When faced with strange blood work and debilitating symptoms, the responsible thing to do is keep hunting. Why? Because I have an amazingly beautiful and wonderful daughter that needs me...because I have a lot of life to live...because I know exactly what it feels like to bury a man who pretended "nothing was wrong" for years until the colon cancer ravaged his body.

No, pretending isn't an option. So we hunt and treat simultaneously.  As I walk this journey, I have also learned to keep living, because God has a plan for me - I see it every day! 

To those that don't believe anything is wrong; that wish I wouldn't talk about it; that would prefer that I live beneath a facade of "I'm OK"; that choose not to take the time to understand; that cannot grasp the privalege of their own health... I will say this - feel free to part ways. It is the most empowering feeling in the world to be able to stand authentically in my truth and allow others to do the same. 

AND. 

It's also excruciating to lose someone I love. There is so much grief and loss that goes with chronic illness.  

Update January 2020. I'm grateful to be in remission from the big bad bagel (that's what I call it) that knocked me down harder than the career ending and life changing concussion in 2011. A year of toe curling, anaphylaxis inducing ultra high dose prednisone and IVIG did the trick. Now im on the long walk back from the edge. 

I welcome the path that God has before me. 

Amen. 

 

A Prayer for the Unseen

An observation.... It's Christmas Eve, and there's a lot of discussion about noticing those on the margins and those who may be in pain this season.  While many are mentioned in memes and prayers, including the lonely and caregivers for the ill, there's no mention of those who are actually living with disability, chronic illness, pain... or those who are at end of life.  The privalege of health is everywhere, yet there are millions living in bodies with unimaginable conditions - until it happens to you.  

Tonight I pray for those who are unseen and unnoticed; those who beg for God's intervention but do so alone; those whose suffering runs so deep that they have hidden it away... I've been in these shoes - all of them - sometimes feeling undeserving of the love and prayers of others.  So I ask God to hear my prayer, because my soul sees theirs tonight.

Blue Phoenix Creative-Graphics and Web Design/Coding

I haven't spoken about it much, but in the quiet of my healing journey I've been taking on some select projects- things I can do from home and/or engagements with animals that could benefit from my intuition/synesthesia. Ive decided to share this more publicly in the event that you or someone you know can benefit. 

Graphics and Web Design/Coding 

Ive been doing logos, graphic design, blog design, social media design and web design/coding. I taught myself to do this after the brain injury. Im very selective about clients, but it's something that I can do from home.

Here are two logos done for some of my favourite people.  They both love purple!  

Kiri is my trainer and one of my best friends. She's family.  Harvey and I have been with her since 2012. Her logo is an actual drawing of her jumping stella (her horse). 

Tom and Nancy have been clients back to 2005....They are family too.  Tom has a blog that has been a source of inspiration for so many.  Im going to be moving his site to a new platform, but for now check it out at www.thebeaconviews.com

Stay tuned... I'll occasionally write more about the diverse things happening at Blue Phoenix, from original art to prints, patrons to collectors, graphics to coding, theology and Theopoetics, jewelry design and even animal communication.  It's not all on my website yet.... but it will be soon.  Www.bluephoenixart.com 

Are you Listening?

Neurodiversity includes awareness that some of us are unable to put things into words the same as others. I am learning to embrace that I communicate differently.   My authentic language post TBI is color, imagery and poetry. I take notes in color.  I may be able to put things into words and have it sound really good because I was a professional writer and published author in my former life.  10 years ago I was on the cover of the Washington Athletic Club Magazine for entrepreneurialism.  Life is different now, because my brain has fundamentally rewired.

Don't feel bad for me.  Acquired Savantism is among the greatest gifts of my life.  But it comes with challenges that few people can understand.  How can I be both a "genius" and "disabled?"  Why can't i participate in group outings? Why do I misspeak sometimes? Why have I been so sick the last two years? Because my new brain has some issues.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is that my real thoughts, the deep ocean consciousness that feels too spherical to put into words, cannot be flattened for linear language. Ive tried for years in seminary, each time landing myself in the hospital.  Not everyone understands this, and it has led to huge misunderstandings.

Im choosing to embrace my neurodivergent brain, especially the part that holds paradoxes and embraces nonduality with love.  A very wise woman inspired me today to recognize that there is important work to be done for those of us with alternative nondualistic voices.  It's frightening because the conflict is overwhelming in our polarized culture and I don't have the adrenal system to handle the pain that comes my way. But im discovering that the pain of silence is worse.

Silence and solitude are different.  I shall communicate in my own way and rest on God.

Today I wrote this...poetry for my new website home page which will feature my Warrior WOM•AN Collection.

Are you Listening?

She embraces Mystery,
Courageously following primal nudges.
Warrior!
Colors unfurl,
Textures explode,
New layers emerge,
Life AND death held together,
Akin to nature,
SCRIPTURE,
Imperfectly Perfect.

Her hands take the lead,
There are no mistakes,
Paradoxes prevail,
In deep ocean consciousness.
The unspeakable rises,
Trauma and joy interwoven,
Ineffable harmony.
Dripping with intention,
Blending,
Smearing,
Scarring,
Colors become complex language,
And
THE CANVAS SPEAKS.
Are you listening?

ART.
AWAKEN.
AMEN.

Original Art and Poetry by Heather Thompson Blue Phoenix Art www.bluephoenixart.com