The Great Unraveling Toward Love

August 26, 2014 by Christine Valters Paintner

Continued from Page 1

Years ago at a workshop led by Northwest American storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade he said something that has stayed with me and rises up in times like these. "We must continue to work for love, act with love, even in the face of all other evidence." We can never know whether our efforts make any difference, and yet we must act as if, to continue to make the choice out of love each time, to let cynicism shrivel, even as the world continues to crumble all around us.

The heart inspires the imagination.

In this darkness of moments, we might remember that this is also the place to dare the unimaginable. When everything else seems lost or hopeless, why not risk it all for love? Why not cast off our grasp of what we think will bring security, and embrace the thing that makes us tremble?

It can be hard to remember that there is goodness in the world, that love is the foundational impulse. But together, we must let ourselves unravel, feel the breaking down of everything, stay present, lament, and then imagine. We must act as if, gathered in our little tribes of kindness, showing love to our corner of the world. We must become outposts of generosity.

Let the heart be nourished first and see what happens.

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8/26/2014 4:00:00 AM

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About Christine Valters Paintner

Christine Valters Paintner, Ph.D., is a Benedictine Oblate and the online Abbess ofAbbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery without walls offering online classes in contemplative practice and creative expression and pilgrimages to Ireland, Germany, and Austria. She is the author of eight books on monasticism and creativity including The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom (Ave Maria Press) and her forthcoming book The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Inner Journey (Spring 2015, Ave Maria Press). Christine lives as a monk in the world in Galway, Ireland with her husband of twenty years.

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