Soul – work

This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing
I know, that the soul exists, and that it is
built entirely out of attention.

Mary Oliver

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Attending to soul is about noticing and appreciating what is, as opposed to approaching reality with pre-conceived ideas or illusions. It is about openness, awareness, and the savouring of reality. It will mean waking up to mystery, awe, surprise and wonder.

Image: Kim En Joong, Huile 2016_01

We are not the measure of all things. We are dependent creatures. God wants to interiorly teach us, to be open and humble towards things as they are – to be filled with awe and wonder, not so much at how things are but that things are.

Can I learn to look and listen to my world, my inner world –

and appreciate it for what it is, savouring it,

letting go of any illusory thoughts that I can understand it,

or control it, or fix it?

Can I bear the pain of being disillusioned –

of letting go of some of the illusions I hang on to –

and begin to face the truth, my truth?

The soul need space, and room to breathe, to be itself, to declare itself, and to hear the invitation into fullness of life.

For all of us there are things we try to repress or ignore. Spend some time imagining Jesus is with you – immediately and present towards you – available – open – receptive – wanting – and encouraging. This is precisely how he is with so many people in the gospels: it is as if, in his presence, people entered into “the force–field of his beloved-ness”.

Imagine him giving you the time and the room or the space to be absolutely yourself. What’s it like to have someone so understanding of you – who feels for you and with you – as to give you all the space you need to be fully yourself. Can you let whatever “small shy truth” emerge and let Jesus teach you, meet you, heal you, free you?

“Circumstances are the voice of God” (C.S,Lewis) – not that God has arranged the circumstances to teach us a lesson but rather, if we are willing to listen and to attend, we hear God speak to us in and through every circumstance that happens to us.

“I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation”
Philippians 4: 12

Soul is not a thing, but a quality or dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It connects and unifies. It embraces everything that is and knows that the path forward is the life-long and patient working with the raw materials of our existence.

Image: Kim En Joong, Huile 1505_01

As we continue our journey through these meditations on the soul, we are accompanied by the paintings of Kim En Joong. He says of his work:

“Très jeune, je me suis passionné pour le dessin et la peinture, mais ce qui me fascinait le plus c’était les effets de la lumière dans la nature. Je garde en mémoire des souvenirs très précis “d’instants magiques”, comme cette fin d’après-midi dans une rizière où, entre deux nuages, s’est glissé un rayon du soleil couchant sur la surface cuivrée de l’eau. Ma quête en tant que croyant et artiste a toujours été de chercher à mettre en valeur cette lumière qui, pour moi, est signe divin, signe du lien qui unit Dieu aux hommes.”

Source: La Croix, 10/06/2014 « MA PEINTURE EST UNE FAÇON DE RENDRE HOMMAGE À MES PARENTS »

At a very young age, I became passionate about drawing and painting, but what fascinated me the most was the effect of light in nature. I keep in my mind very precise memories of “magical moments”, such as that late afternoon in a rice field where, between two clouds, a ray of the setting sun slipped on the coppery surface of the water. My quest as a believer and artist has always been to seek to highlight this light which, for me, is a divine sign, a sign of the bond that unites God to men.

Here is Mary Oliver reading her own poem Wild Geese.