Christ is the Logos, the Eternal Tao, the One Who Is. Christ is therefore the Way of creating. In His Image, how must we create?
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3
Gliding along the surface
This blog post comes during the Bright or Holy 50 after the Feast of the Resurrection. Given Holy Week and Easter, I got behind on my posts. I wrote this particular post during Holy Week while reading the book by Hieromonk Damascene entitled Christ the Eternal Tao. (That book is so heavy.)
While reading it, I couldn’t help but see tie-ins with the leitmotif of these blog posts, namely creativity and Orthodox Christian faith and spiritual practice.
This post merely glides along the surface of small portions of Father Damascene’s book that in itself is so deep and rich and nuanced. Hopefully I don’t come off as totally heretical with this one.
Lord have mercy …
Let’s begin with a quote from Christ the Eternal Tao …
Christ the Eternal Tao
The Mind spoke through His child the Word, And through the Word all things were made. Thus did the Ancient Prophet say: 'The Mind spoke, and all things came to be, He commanded, and they were created.' And: 'By the Word of the Mind were the heavens Established.' Of this also did the Ancient Sage speak, Calling the Pre-eternal Word 'the Source of ten thousand things.'
Here we see that through the Word (Christ the Logos, the Ordering Principle, the Logic of all that is) the Mind, God the Father, created all things. All things were made through the Word, the Logos, who is Christ. Christ is the Word that brought the world into being, and thus “the Source of ten thousand things.”
All things were made by the Word, And without Him was not anything made that was made: All worlds, and worlds within worlds, All matter, all life, all intelligences, Of numbers so vast that if their names should be written Every one, Even the world itself could not contain the books that should Be written.
Christ is the Source of all worlds of all in the worlds. Through the Mind of the Father, and the Breath of the Holy Spirit, the Word created all things.
The Mind spoke, and all the host of spirits were made by the Breath of His mouth.
The Mind spoke, calling upon the Pre-eternal Counsel--the Word and Breath-- Saying, 'Let us make man.' And through the Breath of Heaven entering into man's Nostrils, Man became a living soul.
The Father spoke through the Word and the Breath of the Holy Spirit to make man in their own image. The “Breath of Heaven [entered] into man’s nostrils, and man became a living soul.” We are made in the image and likeness of God: Mind, Word, Breath.
How did the Word create?
If we are created in the image of God, let us see how the Word created …
How Does the Word Create?
'I am the Way', said the Pre-eternal Word. As through the Word all things came into being from The Mind, So through Him do all things return to the Mind. Therefore the Ancient Sage said: 'The movement of the Way consists in returning, Returning to the Source'. The Word is the only Way by which they came, And He is the only Way by which they can effect their return, For 'no one goes to the Mind except through the Word'.
This passage gives us a glimpse into the point of departure for not just creating, but more importantly for being healed. All things come from the Mind through the Word, and therefore the return to the Mind is through the Word. So to return to the Source of all that is–of ourselves, of being, etc–is achieved through the Word. Moreover, the Word is the “only natural way for all things to return to Him.”
But what is the Way of this return? If we are created in the image and likeness of God–Mind, Word, Breath–what is God’s way to return to the Source of all that is?
He is the only Way by which they came, And He is the only Way by which they can effect their return, For 'no one goest to the Mind except through the Word'. He is the only Way which is natural for them to follow. It is He Who fills, It is He Who empties. That with Himself He might fill all things. He allows Himself to be torn down That through Him all things might be raised up. Relinquishing His utter transcendence, He goes forth from Himself in the abundance of His love, That all things might go to Him, Returning to the Source.
Christ the Logos, the Eternal Tao, is the only way through which creation comes to be, and the only way through which it can return to the Source of its creation. What is this Way of return to the Source of Creation?
Emptying Himself He fills all things Allowing Himself to be torn down so all things might be raised up, Relinquishing His status, His "transcendence," He goes forth out of the abundance of Love so all things might return to Him.
Complete humility.
'The Way continuously creates,' said the Ancient Sage (Lao Tzu), And the Power of the Way nourishes, enlarges, feeds, Completes, matures, cherishes and broods over all things. The Way creates, but does not demand for itself; Acts but is not boastful; Controls, but without compulsion. This may be called the mystery of the Power of the Way. The ten thousand things all honour the Way and respects its Power, But without demand or orders.
The Way continuously creates while not demanding anything for Himself. He acts but is not boastful. He “nourishes, enlarges, feeds, completes, matures, cherishes and broods over all things.”
No Ego
There is no ego in what He creates. And there is no severing or setting Himself over against creation. Creation is not there as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
When the Way came to earth, quietly, under the cloak of flesh, He did not demand respect, Nor was He won't to reveal His true Name, A Name worthy of all honour. He left it to those whom He had made to utter His Name: Word of the Mind, Son of the Father, 'the least in the Kingdom of Heaven' and 'the Son of Man.' For He had made Himself the son, the offspring of His own offspring, Lowering Himself beneath many who had falsely exalted himself.
The Way, even as the Source of all that is, became “the least in the Kingdom of Heaven” and “the Son of Man,” thus “lowering Himself beneath many who had falsely exalted themselves.”
This is how the Source of all things lived on this earth; He lived this way to, as the Source, show us the way of our return to the Source of all life.
And this is the focus, this is the direction, this is the objective, the calling …
Not to place a premium on creating;
Not to fall into the false belief that our purpose here on earth is merely to write poetry and prose,
Or paint or film …
But rather to enter more deeply into the Lord Love Himself; to enter into loving union with God and all of creation–in essence, to become saints. And we do that by becoming more and more like Christ, and therefore more and more our true selves.
The Master of the Universe, Showing us how to walk the way of humility, Took a towel And, bending below his disciples, Washed their feet. Learn not from man, nor from a book, But from me-- From my indwelling, From my illumination and action within you; For I am meek and humble in heart And in thought and in spirit, And your souls shall find rest from conflicts And relief from thoughts.
Heady Stuff …
We’re so far in our own heads …
The modern world is established on ‘thinking’ and promotes the ability to thin as the highest good.
“I think therefore I am” remains the highest ideal; that which establishes one’s value, one’s worth.
Lose your ability to think and you might just lose the right to live …
There is by contrast no value given to the heart. Listen to how people with Alzheimers are described–as if they’re no longer human; as if they’re already dead.
But it’s not true …
In many ways, they are more in touch with their own hearts, and they point those around them to the heart, to love, to the vulnerability of being human.
In many ways they are more human than we are.
But cerebral congestion, a result of living up in our heads, causes pain, sadness, confusion, over analysis, despair and despondency. Someone said to me recently, “I drive fast because I’m too far in my own head, in my own thoughts, that I’m just speeding through life …”
Christ shows us that the way up, the way to our healing form the pain associated from hyper-analysis, is the way down, the way of service, the way of humility …
To return to our true selves by returning to the Source Who is Love.
Forgiveness
The Way to this Love is also forgiveness …
When one loves, expecting nothing, One has the power to forgive anyone anything. Therefore the Way, Who is perfect love, and loves Perfectly, And who came to earth out of love, Came with the power to forgive all people all crimes. This was a gift He offered up, But it can be received only by him who himself loves, And thus forgives. For when one loves, expecting nothing, One will not only forgive everything-- One will be forgiven everything. Of those who love much, said the Way, Much will be forgiven. But of those who love little, Little will be forgiven. This is the Way of Heaven. The Spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of the Way. The heart of the follower of the Way is distinguished by Its power to forgive.
Christ the Word, the Creator of all creation, reveals to us His heart–it is forgiveness that is done through love. Love is egoless. It expects nothing in return. It goes the extra mile.
This is how to live poetically in these times of pain and discord and fragmentation and crimes left untried: to forgive everyone everything which is to love everyone. To see oneself as the chief of all sinners. To see one’s own sins in greater clarity and light than anyone else’s.
Then we can find the way back to our true selves, that primal simplicity. We can find our true selves by becoming more like Christ.
We can then create like the Creator creates–not out of ambition or pride or ego, but out of love. To create out of self-emptying love.
To create from a place of humility.
In Loving Union with God
But there’s something about this that is too reflexive or self referential. The right hand should not know what the left hand is doing. The temptation is to make creating the goal or object of our return to “the Source” ‘better creativity’, to somehow improve our chops as it were. In such instances our lives thus become a deliberate act of pursuing Christ, Beauty, Goodness, Truth as a means to a create end and not the end itself.
No.
Creativity may be a means to enter into loving union with God and to live through that love. But if we’re deceiving ourselves into thinking that we can use our spiritual life for any other purpose but to be in loving union with god and all creation, then the authentic life we’re seeking will be a priori inauthentic. And the soul will be misaligned to what it truly desires, namely God. And with that, one is back to estrangement, back to ego …
For drawn out of herself, The soul will not rest until immersed in her Beloved. Encompassed in the wholeness of His reality, She will wish to be recognized not from herself, But from that which embraces her, Like air made luminous by light, Like iron penetrated through and through by fire.
Again, that’s the goal, that’s the direction, that’s the purpose, that’s why we seek the true Source, the Way of Heaven for …
If the face of a loved one clearly and completely changes us, Making us cheerful, happy and carefree, What will the face of the Way of Heaven do When He makes His presence felt invisibly, Without imagination, In a pure soul?
