Journal of Sacred Work

Days 303-307 - Preparing for Perfection - Monna Vanna to Mona Lisa

   How did Leonardo da Vinci prepare for the creation of the greatest painting in history?

   We know of his lifelong curiosity, persistence & study. We know of the teaching environment in which the genius operated - surrounded by students in a rich culture of learning. 

    Now experts know something else. Part of Leonardo's preparation for his immortal Mona Lisa included painting a nude version of his subject.

   Experts have known of the existence of the "Monna Vanna" since 1862. They now know (as of this September) that Leonardo & his assistants created this drawing as part of  da Vinci's meticulous preparation for the final painting.       

   We never achieve perfection. But, the pursuit of it can bring some close. This truth rings powerfully for anyone who seeks to be a great artist, healer or person of excellence in any area.

   You have trained all of your life to become your best at your work. Perhaps, you have only been making drawings & drafts & are just now ready to create your personal masterpiece. 

-Erie Chapman

Days 301-302 The Day is Sacred

Note: Reflection offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel.

"In silence we must wrap much of our life, because it is too fine for speech." - Ralph Waldo Emerson  

The above quote was shared by Erie Chapman in the Journal of Sacred Work (JSW) in 2009.

“And the seasons they go round and round” (Joni Mitchell) and in the golding of leaves nature reveals the circular design of our lives. Each October before the chill of winter sets in we instinctively feel a change in our circadian rhythms. As the days shorten we are naturally drawn towards the coziness of home.

Do you ever struggle with the quickening pace of life while something within is calling you to more?

October 31st has relevance because it marks the day that a radiant light known as Erie Chapman entered our world. As I reflected upon how to honor one so dear, I sifted through the archives of the October entries since the JSW's inception in 2006. I thought it might be fun to share a little of Erie’s wisdom.

In 2009, Erie wrote, “Sacredness is rarely found in velocity. Yet, we chronically find ourselves rushing so we can ‘accomplish more.’ The accomplishments of speed are often among the least important of life's experiences.”

I’ve come to love Erie’s unique style of inquiry and how he stimulates personal reflection when he asks, “How do you experience the rich sanctuary of your own silences? How do you honor the silences of your patients? Do you ever experience a patient's room as a ‘house of God?’”

2011 "It visits with inconstant glance/ Each human heart and countenance;/ Like hues and harmonies of evening/...Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery." - Percy Bysshe Shelly (Shared by Erie)

“The human eye struggles to make sense of the world. The heart's eyes see deeper.” (Chapman)

In 2016, “Having a good heart allows us to love the shadows as well as the sun that creates them. That love can only be found in slow breaths.” (Chapman)

  “Speed tramples compassion, destroys Radical Loving Care & causes spiritual blindness. Race through your days & you will miss the world's beauty." (Chapman)

This Journal has been a source of contemplation, respite and renewal for many of us. As Journal companions, new vistas of beauty have opened through painted word, images and poetry. The gifting enriches our experience of life but could easily escape our awareness, unless we slow to savor the questions.

 "Erie offers a refuge for us in the pages of this Journal. For me, with the ebb and flow of life’s changing landscape and the accompanying need to let go, sometimes leaves my world feeling barren and bleak. Yet, each time I come to the Journal I receive a spark of the divine, a lovely flower, a lifeline." These thoughts ring as true today as when I penned them in 2012.

"Prayer is like a portable Sabbath, when we close our eyes for just a moment and let the mind rest in the heart." - Wayne Muller (Shared by Erie)

“I have often let the ‘noise’ around Halloween interfere with celebrating my birthday as a personal Sabbath. That may happen to you on your own birthday. The day is sacred yet you may not experience it that way."(Chapman)

 “What is most ‘deeply true’ about your life? What do you want to become more true? What would happen if you looked beneath the ‘artificial urgency’ of the world's demands?” (Chapman)

So we take this time to slow and offer birthday blessings to you, Erie Chapman!

Blessed are you
who work with goodness
who stand for the right
who live in truth. 
For you come to know the Friend
who dwells in the secret room
of your heart.

You are like an acorn planted
in fertile soil
that grows into a mighty oak. 
Your work blesses others,
you radiate love;
joy delights your heart.

~ Nan C. Merrill

There is a great deal I could share about Erie’s extraordinary accomplishments but what shines so luminous, is Erie’s authentic and unwavering commitment to care for the caregivers who care for others.

 Artwork by ~liz

Days 299-303 - Leonardo Da Vinci & The Woodpecker's Tongue

   Caregivers can probably learn more from studying the work of one particular being than they can from any other. This person created the anatomy drawing, known as Vitruvian Man, 532 years ago. The image has become so iconic it is known by every physician & most nurses. 

   Were it the only piece Leonardo Da Vinci ever made, the artist would still be famous. But this sketch, (likely modeled on the artist) is a tiny fraction of the work created by a person described by biographer Walter Isaacson as "The most creative genius in history."  

    What about Mozart, Einstein, Steve Jobs? They were geniuses in particular fields. Leonardo Da Vinci not only wanted to master everything. He accomplished that so well that he became the penultimate example of the Renaissance person. 

   In 1568 Giorgio Vasari wrote of Leonardo, "...occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously [sic] endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind."

   "He was the ultimate example of someone who connected art and science and spirit," Isaacson says."

   What stands out was the stunning range of his intellect. We know that the sky is blue because of the way air scatters light. Leonardo was the first to explain this. He was so renown for his designs of helicopters, war machines & portable bridges that he added at the end of one work application, almost as an afterthought, "I can also paint."

   Nothing seemed too minor to escape his voracious curiosity. The painter of The Mona Lisa & The Last Supper wondered about the function of a woodpecker's tongue.

   One of Da Vinci's greatest lessons is how his science informed his art & vice versa. We think of these disciplines as separate. Leonardo saw what all of us should - that they are of a piece.

  Leonardo Da Vinci was a classic polymath, a person who is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. It is hard to plumb the depths of this giant's genius. 

   Imagine what we might learn about the nature of life & of our own genius if we tried?

-Erie Chapman 

 

Days 297-298 "Enter the Struggle"

 Note: Reflection offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel            

Enter the Struggle

  …we are challenged

 

        to pour ourselves

 

                into the human endeavor…

 

                        Knowing full well

 

                                that it is the struggles

                                        and how we are with others

                                                                         that matters.

 

            Success is left to God,

                                      

      held lightly

                                        and regarded as pure gift.

                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                ~Marcia Allen, CSJ

 

  Watercolors by ~liz

Days 292-296 - Pieces of Love

   He is easy to ignore as he stares passersby in downtown Nashville. It is simple to dismiss him "homeless." 

   "The heart is the whole thing. We are only pieces." Rumi wrote. The 13th century Persian mystic wrote glorious poetry & not a verse of it is out of date. 

   We want our hearts to be dwelling places for God's Love. Reading Rumi is one way to open the gates. Helping those in need is another.

   Yet, the hardest people to touch with out love can sometimes be those closest to us. Caregivers are hemmed in by patients who are seen as needing diagnosis & treatment, not love & a listening ear.

   Longtime lovers may have fallen into habits of taking each other for granted. One day a tragic accident or a sudden illness mocks their folly by stealing the chance for more joy. 

   We want our hearts to be homes where love offers strength as well as comfort, kindness as well as companionship, warmth & safety as well as the affirmation of embrace. 

   The man on the street seems isolated from all of this. Once a baby, a small boy, a young man, perhaps a father, he is now the man on the street. Once hope lived in his heart.

   One of the "pieces" of God's love, this man gazes out from his smooth stone perch as if waiting - watching for someone who will never come. 

-Reverend Erie Chapman

Days 290-291 Simple Eloquence

Note: Reflection offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Nature is our greatest teacher. She has so much wisdom to reveal about the mysteries of life and of death, of ending and beginnings.

The wonders of Mother Earth reflect answers to the questions we carry in the secret chambers of our heart.

 I love how beauty manifests in nature. The rhythms and changing patterns that ebb and flow in the ever-changing essence of what is.

Walking along the shoreline of Laguna Beach, I came across a single strand of seaweed and I was struck by the simple eloquence of nature and delighted by her sand painting.

As caregivers, we experience great joy and suffering that is inherent in living, loving, caring and in times of  vulnerability;  for those we care for as well as our own. 

Finding moments of simple eloquence reacquaints us with precious aspects of ourselves that are easily overlooked and often forgotten.

 

"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity. 

~Emily Dickinson

 

Photo: Nature's Sand Painting by ~liz, early morning, Laguna Beach, CA

Days 285-289 - The Healer's Gaze

   They gaze at each other, sunlit beings linked by blood, separated in age by three years & one month, joined forever in the love of sister & brother.   

   Two week old Reed owns that baby's ability to stare unselfconsciously because he is, in fact, not conscious of his selfhood. Currently, he is immune to embarrassment or to having his gaze misinterpreted. 

   Why cannot we regard each other the way Reed can? We are taught to look people in the eye when we talk with them. But, when conversations fall silent, the human gaze is quickly averted.

   Some say we cannot stand the intensity involved. But the antonym for "look" is "ignore." When our eyes turn away does this compromise our attention & dilute our presence?

   Perhaps the professional caregiver's synonym for "look" is "examine." But, our eyes can hold enormous power.

   To look with love is to heal. The synonym for the healer's "gaze" is "love."

-Erie Chapman 

Photograph by Tyler E. Chapman

Days 284-284 Love is What Carries Us

Note: Reflection offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Blessing When the World is Ending

Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.

Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.

Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun,
the knife,
the fist.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door,
the shattered hope.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone,
the television,
the hospital room.

Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break
your heart.

But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.

It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.

This blessing
will not fix you,
will not mend you,
will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.

It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again. 

—Jan Richardson

... in time...it will take time.

Goodness is stronger than evil;

Love is stronger than hate;

Light is stronger than darkness;

Life is stronger than death.

~Archbishop Desmond TuTu

Mandala by ~liz

Days 279-283 - Always Dreaming

"We dream - it is good we are dreaming -/ It would hurt us were we awake..." - Emily Dickinson

   But we are awake, aren't we? Maybe not. 

   One day Plato appeared in my high school to advise our class: "All of life is a dream." Ever since, I've wondered if he was right. 

   Dreams always seem real when you are in them even if you have some awareness that you are dreaming. Yet, they are always fantastical - inconsistent with what we think of as the reality of our everyday world.

   We cannot act otherwise. Indeed, our ability to discern the difference between dream & reality is one way our sanity is determined. 

   But is reality truly more "real" than a dream? Doesn't much of what happens in the world seem unbelievable?

   Of course, if we actually went about our days thinking we were in a dream we might be removed from society - perhaps institutionalized.

   Anesthesia & other drugs place patients in the strangest kinds of states. Even a dose of nitrous oxide in the dentist's office can send us to another world - or certainly to a different consciousness. Mental illness can further redefine our reality in ways that cry out for compassion from caregivers.

   Life "hurts" enough so that we seem to spend much of our waking lives trying to anesthetize ourselves from reality one way or another. The bored nurse, the worn-out board member, the exhausted doctor, the burned out caregiver facing the same intractable patient every day - each one wishes reality were different.

   Our dream state, like life itself, can be a refuge or a nightmare. 

   But, dreams can inform our existence in remarkable & enriching ways. The problem is that most of us discount our dreams so quickly the dream never has a chance to tell us anything.

   A dear friend lost her brother in an accident at sea. She and her mother fretted over the death for a year. One night, our friend dreamed that she was flying. She looked over and there was her brother flying next to her. Then she saw her mother further off in the distance.

   Her brother told her he was fine & that she needed to let him go.

   That morning, she called her mother. "You'll never believe what I dreamed." Her mother cut her off. "Wait, you will never believed what I dreamed. I was flying & you were too & your brother flew next to us & told us not to worry."

   Dreams carry their own wisdom. Perhaps, we should listen.

-Erie Chapman 

The above column was originally published September, 2012

Photograph from the film "Alex Dreaming" created by Erie Chapman

And there is this: "

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."

--  T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

   But we are awake, aren't we? Maybe not. 

   One day Plato appeared in my high school to advise our class: "All of life is a dream." Ever since, I've wondered if he was right. 

   Dreams always seem real when you are in them even if you have some awareness that you are dreaming. Yet, they are always fantastical - inconsistent with what we think of as the reality of our everyday world.

   We cannot act otherwise. Indeed, our ability to discern the difference between dream & reality is one way our sanity is determined. 

   But is reality truly more "real" than a dream? Doesn't much of what happens in the world seem unbelievable?

   Of course, if we actually went about our days thinking we were in a dream we might be removed from society - perhaps institutionalized.

   Anesthesia & other drugs place patients in the strangest kinds of states. Even a dose of nitrous oxide in the dentist's office can send us to another world - or certainly to a different consciousness. Mental illness can further redefine our reality in ways that cry out for compassion from caregivers.

   Life "hurts" enough so that we seem to spend much of our waking lives trying to anesthetize ourselves from reality one way or another. The bored nurse, the worn-out board member, the exhausted doctor, the burned out caregiver facing the same intractable patient every day - each one wishes reality were different.

   Our dream state, like life itself, can be a refuge or a nightmare. 

   But, dreams can inform our existence in remarkable & enriching ways. The problem is that most of us discount our dreams so quickly the dream never has a chance to tell us anything.

   A dear friend lost her brother in an accident at sea. She and her mother fretted over the death for a year. One night, our friend dreamed that she was flying. She looked over and there was her brother flying next to her. Then she saw her mother further off in the distance.

   Her brother told her he was fine & that she needed to let him go.

   That morning, she called her mother. "You'll never believe what I dreamed." Her mother cut her off. "Wait, you will never believed what I dreamed. I was flying & you were too & your brother flew next to us & told us not to worry."

   Dreams carry their own wisdom. Perhaps, we should listen.

-Erie Chapman 

The above column was originally published September, 2012

Photograph from the film "Alex Dreaming" created by Erie Chapman

And there is this: "

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."

--  T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)