I believe in the Cosmos, the Mystery at the Heart of All,
Self-creating, self-organizing, self-sustaining.
I believe in Earth, a living planet, our home.
Conceived in the Big Bang,
It evolves myriad forms,
Suffers extinctions and upheavals,
But endures, adapts, and thrives.
To it all life returns;
From it all life rises up.
It makes each moment a heaven
For all who are present to What Is.
It holds the living and the dead and does not judge.
I believe in the holiness of being,
the spiritual authority of the individual,
the communion of loved ones,
the acceptance of consequences,
the recycling of the body,
and the Story everlasting.
Blessed be.
Beauty Prayer Beads, by Donald L. Engstrom-Reese. Used with the artist's permission.
This is lovely, my dear! A creed that I think all of us who love the Earth can get behind. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for commenting, Leora! One of my interests for this column is liturgy creation: how we can use the stories we tell and the beliefs we hold to build meaningful rituals. I consider this post my first foray into that area.
This is so true. I would like it on a poster to hang in my hall. It touched my core.
Thank you so much, Vanessa. I could probably make a poster happen!
Vanessa, posters can definitely happen! We’ve already gotten started on a series of broadsides of Eli’s new myths from this column (a limited edition of ‘Bee & Orchid’). I think she and I will have to collaborate on a poster version of this creed, as well.
Will eagerly scan facebook page.
I love this! Thank you!
Thank you, Michele.
Gorgeous. I’m always looking for non-theist-friendly “prayers” (we need a better word!).
Thank you, Liz.
I waffle about the word “prayer”, too. There are other times when I fear the word has too much theistic association to truly be useful to nontheists.
At other times, I think of David Abram’s definition in _Becoming Animal_, where he says prayer is a conversation–talking *to* something, rather than *about* it (which is part of why I call this a creed, as it’s a statement of beliefs, rather than a conversation with any part of the Cosmos). When I’m feeling that sense of connection, then I’m OK saying “prayer”.
It’s a tough needle to thread.
Affirmations, statements of belief, vehicles of intent… all these things are prayers. It’s not the word, it’s the long-standing association we have with it. Thank you for posting this, it’s lovely!
Thanks for the kind words and the perspective, ladyimbrium. I try to reclaim the word from those associations, but sometimes I wonder if the associations are just too big.
This rocks.
Hey, thanks, Editor B! This means a lot from someone who rocks (as you do).