"I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one,
but I give myself to it."
-Rilke-
Ok, so I have to admit that what I am about to share is not at all unique. I am proud to say though, that I only know of one other person that has done research into this area. In 2010, a woman by the name of Nancy Menning did her Doctoral Dissertation on this very topic. It was titled "Reading Nature Religiously: Lectio Divina, environmental ethics, and the literary non-fiction of Terry Tempest William." Although I have not read this dissertation, and have no intention of doing so entirely, it is to this that the idea that I now present is indebted. I will begin with a definition as to what exactly I mean by Lectio Divina, as well as what I mean when I talk about "Reading the book of nature."The idea of nature as a revelation of God is not a new formulation. Although the formulation as is now commonly understood is a product of the early ages of scientific investigation in the 17th and 18th century, it is not totally unattested to in the scriptures. Take for instance Romans 1:20, or Psalm 19. The scripture clearly teaches that nature is revelatory of God in some sense. If God is the imminent creator of the cosmos, and if we believe that this God is a personal deity, then this consequently means that he has in some sense revealed himself to his created creatures through creation. Thus, although humanity has been given the book of scripture, they also have been given the book of creation (nature). In this self manifestation and revelation of God, we are then called to the careful study, observation, and meditation on both of God's revealed books.
Lectio Divina is a careful, close, and methodical reading of the scriptures in a contemplative way. It often includes mulling over one particular passage, letting it sink into your consciousness, and being attentive to what the text and the Spirit of God might be saying to you personally. After you have allowed the text and the spirit to speak, one must then contemplate what this means in the context of life. How is it to affect your actions and the way in which you live in the world? The last step is to remain in God's presence; resting in the knowledge that God has spoken. What I am then suggesting is that it is possible to perform this "Divine Reading" on the natural world in very much the same way that you would on the scriptures themselves.
Lectio Divina has the ability to teach us a different narrative than the one that society at large lives. It requires that we slow down so that we might be attentive and quiet enough to hear God's first language: silence. Thus, when we come to the revealed book of nature we are confronted not only with a silence unlike that of our busy lives, but also with the multiple voices of God's creation. Flannery O'Connor once said that the more sacramental our theology is, the better. This is certainly true when we are outdoors, when we are in the midst of God's creation. When we face another human we are confronted with the image of God, but when we come into the midst of the natural world we are confronted with the fingerprints of God. It is when we realize this that nature stops singularly being nature and can be called a creation, and it is in this that it is deemed worthy of our attention and study. It is when we realize that all of creation is sacramental that we can come into it's midst expecting that we will not only sense the presence of God, but moreover be confronted by the immediacy of it, that is manifest in creation. One distinction that I want to make quite clear is my view of the natural world. While I agree that any Christian view of the world when viewed through the lens of scripture and tradition must affirm the Creator Creation distinction, I nonetheless see nature as infused with the divine in every respect. Some prominent process and open theologians refer to this as a formulation of panentheism. I certainly have affinities for the notion of panentheism as it not only offers a more apt reason for Care of Creation, but also because it is more congruent with divine action in the world in lieu of scientific inquiry. Some may see this as an abandonment of the Creator Creation distinction, however if one is to see God as encompassing all of Creation yet infinitely beyond it, this notion remains intact.
I would love to hear stories as well as thoughts on how you have connected with God in the natural world.
