Background: There is such a long history of nature mysticism. One of the dynamics at play is the idea that we can discover the extent to which God lives and breathes in the creation.
The Exercise
- Find a calm place with lots of nature present.
- Begin a slow, meandering walk. Be present and aware of your surroundings. Keeping an air of calm, do your best to discover something new in this place.
- Be on the look out for a particular object that speaks to you. Perhaps it is a cloud, or a rock, or the way the shadows of a leave lands on the grass. It needn’t be big or beeutiful in any classic kind of sense. You might know this thing right away when you see it. You might walk past, consider it for a while, and return.
- When you have chosen the thing you will adore, open yourself to it.
- Study it with love. As if you had to memorize it. Describe it’s appearance.
- Apply your other senses to it; listen to it, smell it and touch it, if possible.
- To the extent that God is in anything, God is in everything. Experience this object as unfolding of God.
- When you are done with your time of adoration, let this object go. Consider whether you have a new understanding of the nature of God. Ask yourself whether you could put this understanding into words.
- If you wish, keep this object in your mind as an icon of God’s presence in the world.
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