I’m excited about another book. I first read this one 25 years ago. So many circles are completing in this phase of my life. You know the T.S. Elliot lines:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

I’m now in St. Louis attending a Unity Church on my childhood street. I used to ride my bike by this same corner on the way to Forest Park with my friends. I’m spending time with the dear man I dated in high school. I’m teaching drawing in the continuing education department of the community college where I applied for a job in 1968.

Now back to the book I’ve circled back to. It’s Matthew Fox’s ORIGINAL BLESSING. I love it. I carry it with me from room to room like Linus does his blanket. This book nourishes me like my goat milk yogurt. Matthew Fox says there have always been two themes in Judaism and Christianity. The fall/redemption one with bad original sin tagging along, and the creation-centered theme of lovely original blessing shining through everything always. Original sin was unknown by the Hebrews, including Jesus. It’s a fourth century Christian invention. It’s about the dark side of our natures. It’s night’s troubles to day’s blessing’s. It’s the lesser part of our lives’ stories.

“The God of the Covenant is a God of blessing.” (p. 45) The Creative Energy of God, in Hebrew DABHAR, gives and shares, creates and celebrates, sustains and surprises us every minute. Here’s the most touching thought of the book for me. The Creative Energy of God pulses through us when we create. So my books, pictures and cards are part of this outpouring of divine Creativity. “….our images are trustworthy. Every person needs to learn to trust his/her own images. It is precisely out of this trust that the artist in us is born….The very pain that trust in images brings about can be a renewing pain, a pain of new birth and new creation, a salvific and healing pain that ushers us into deep and wonderful relationships with others….” (pp. 203-204)

The books is full of lovely quotes. Rilke, one of my favorite writers, is quoted: “You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born….fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter into you before it happens. Just wait for the birth….for the hour of new clarity.” (p. 201)

I offer you on my website what I have created. Thank you very much for using your precious time to visit here.

Love always, Mary Feagan