.
I am dizzy with love,
Standing in the rain,
This cosmic blessing
Pouring on my head,
Mingling with tears of gratitude
Til one stream
can not be deciphered
From the other.
.
I am an Original Blessing,
As are you,
And we are not born in sin,
But brought into the light of life
In great joy and anticipation.
.
Our first bellows are not of pain
But surprise at the roominess of the Cosmos,
As we kick feet, flail arms
And finally open eyes at the glorious colors
Of Nature.
.
Original sin would have us
Born rotten,
A theological monkey on our back–
But I know no God of the Cosmos
Who would scar these tiny blessings
With such a heavy burden.
.
Original Blessing is a deliverance,
A deliverance of hope, trust and pride
A heritage where we can discern and save
Ourselves,
Walk in harmony with the Earth,
Stride with God across the span of life–
For this Earth is our cradle,
And all in it our kin.
.
For a truly wise person
Kneels at the feet of all creatures
And is not afraid to endure
The mockery of others.
.
And when the day sidles up to night
I will settle into the nest of the Earth,
Draw the dark blanket of the Cosmos
Across me,
Pillow my head upon stars
And know the blessings I have been
Graced with today and always
Have come from the womb of God.
.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2012
Tags: a journey, compassion, Creation Spirituality, dversepoets.com, Gratitude, Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart, Nature, Original Blessing vs. Original Sin, poetry
Lady Nyo's Weblog 
January 24, 2012 at 8:56 pm
I like the day sidling up with the night and “pillow my head upon stars”…..
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January 24, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Thank you!
Lady Nyo
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January 24, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Jane
I like the idea of Original Blessing so much more than Original Sin! I’ve always felt the same-it has been a burden unfairly placed on innocent shoudlers before we ever had a chance to understand. How can we be born in sin? Oh, I’ve had it explained that we are imperfect, that is why Jesus gave his life, to pay for our sins, so we can be received in heaven…so where does the Sin happen? All has been forgiven, we’re told, and in the nexyt breath, you must ask forgiveness for existing. No wonder religion has people so fucked up. It is murky, self-serving and can be twisted any way the speaker sees fit to manipulate the listener. I stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago. One thing I’ll say for other religions-they’re clear in their principles. You know what the hell is expected of you, what the consequences, and rewards, of any behavior can be.
Nature is my religion. She is unbiased and indifferent. You follow the rules, you’ll be rewarded with joy and life. Don’t follow the rules you can die. Period. Or, you can get lucky, and live to tell. You also remember to follow those particular rules from then on. Nature is there, to be respected or not, She is going about Her business in spite of us. One day, we’ll be gone, but She will perservere, one way or another, long after we’ve killed ourselves. I am ashamed, in advance, for the mess She will have to clean up.
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January 24, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Hi Katie!
Well, I read something today that had me rolling in laughter: (This is from Matthew Fox’s “Original Blessing”)
“I recall a sixty year old woman approaching me this year at a workshop and saying: “I always wondered what I was being redeemed from, but I was afraid to ask”.
LOL!
from my reading, I think the Scriptures are more concerned with Original Blessing than original sin. But this is a worth=while question to pose: Why has original sin played so important a role for sixteen centuries of Western Christian theology, and even more important role than it did for its originator, Augustine?. The basic reason is political. This plays directly into the hands of empire-builders, slavemasters and patriarchal society. It divides us from the rest of LIFE on Earth….it stops pleasure, pleasure sharing, joy, hope, exuberance, etc…in its tracks.It confuses, convolutaes people so that the deeper questions about community, justice and celebration never come to the surface.
It maintains bullies…religious bullies. It divides and conquers.
I am embracing a different spirituality. One that embraces Nature, does not carve us from Nature, and all its creatures, which this line of “Man is the inheritor of the EArth and all will serve him….” this line of disregard for the Earth and our kinship with other species. Creation Spirituality is broad based and brings the traditional and historic wisdom and learning from different religions.
Funny, there is no Original Sin in the Jewish belief, nor in the Orthodox Christianity….and certainly not in the dismissed (by fundamentalist Christians) in the religions of Native cultures.
And Original sin stuff only showed up in the 4th century with Augustine….and not with Jesus four hundred years before.
Finally, there is Hope in the theology of Original Blessing. The World is GOOD, and we have a choice to sin….We are not born rotten. LOL!
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January 24, 2012 at 11:18 pm
it makes me think of more primitive times when you had to carry the weight of generational sins…still paying for what your forebearers did…we are born beautiful…not rotten for sure…smiles…lovely lady nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 12:17 am
Thank you, Brian. Actually, Original Blessing is far older in existence than this original sin stuff. From what I am reading, Augustine in the 4th century made it church doctrine.
The fundamental issue of Original Blessing is the World Is Good! We are good. Of course we sin, but we have the choice to do so…it’s not that we are born full of sin. We are a clean slate.
I remember many years ago, when someone in my family (a fundamentalist…) was trying to explain original sin to me and used the example of a baby: that a baby was born sinful because look how selfish and self-centered he was! LOL!
Someone like that shouldn’t have children if they think that. And I have known people who were fundamentalists who beat their children…because they were ‘beating the devil out of them.
That lost it for me from then…. To bend nature to serve such a self-serving theory….yikes!
Thanks, Brian. Original Blessing is about compassion, too and we need more of that around.
Jane
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January 25, 2012 at 12:42 am
Dear Lady NYO! There have been long periods during my life when I didn’t give a damn which I was born with–original Blessing or Original Sin…or NEITHER!
After a hiatus (consisting of troublesome worry about the hereafter), I am back at the beginning. So I know it is possible to waste not a single moment thinking of the hereafter.
Lady, did you ask “How?”
Well, by living in heaven “here-and-now.
You ask, “Where is this heaven?”
“…In the ‘here-and-now!”
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January 25, 2012 at 1:15 am
Lovely poem. And I share your idea that we are born innocent and must take responsibility for our own mistakes. Children innately demand fairness, and that gives me great hope when the patriarchy tries to bully and put “the fear” into them. We must all learn to forgive ourselves and see our “sins” as errors committed mostly due to lack of understanding. I have been down the tunnel of light twice, and each time I begged to return to do the “true work.” I wish everyone could find the joy in incarnation that I have known! “Original Blessing,” indeed!
Thanks so much for this one.
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January 25, 2012 at 1:59 am
Thank you, Charles, so much. It’s not a popular view point, I am finding out. But those people…like yourself and your own personal experience, have so much more to say on these issues than those who rant and rave about theology. Mostly, like the preachers on TV, they are just words in the mouth and go no further down the gullet. Children do demand fairness, and we ‘grow out of this’ innate stand as we get cynical and older. Some don’t and they are truly blessed.
We do commit some grievous things over the course of life, but most of us have the capacity to reform, change our behavior, to own up to what we are doing. Fear, our own insecurities, our own ‘unlovedness’ from family and society create the basis for this. There is so much social and personal damage done in the name of religion.
It is hard to stay a different course: I have personal experience here in this: after so many decades of dismissal of all religious issues, I have come, finally, to something that speaks deeply to my heart and to my experience. Creation Spirituality is new to me, but it goes down straight to the heart. There are some very heavy lessons of compassion and forgiveness here.
It is better to be seen by some (narrow) people as a heretic than repress your questions and developing beliefs. The world is so good, Charles. A part of it is on the side of a ‘mean humanity’ but that doesn’t account for the rest.
Peace…and thanks for reading and your comment.
Lady Nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 2:01 am
Gorgeous – we do live in a world of such wonders and abundance and some dare to get bored which is a wonder in itself 🙂 I love the notion of Original Blessing
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January 25, 2012 at 2:08 am
Exactly, Steve!
I am not trying to pile up my deeds for the future. I believe there is too much that is demanded of the “now”.
We are so burdened by a twisted theology so many times….that to come to a place of peace and compassion is an uphill battle.
I don’t believe that life should be such….and many major religions do make it so…with their various original sins, guilt, repression and oppression. Surely this is not of God! At least not the one I am drawing nearer to. And that God is a radiant being of many gospels!
Again, the World is Good, and worth the salvation.
Thank you, Steve, for reading and your comment.
Lady Nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 2:12 am
I don’t think it matters so much if our doctrine is different so long as we know, like in the final verse of this beautiful poem, that we have reached self-actualization, are at total peace, ‘settled into the nest of the Earth with the blanket of the Cosmos, knowing every blessing has reached us from the womb of God.’ How infinitely precious!
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January 25, 2012 at 2:19 am
Hi Marousia!
Yes! the world is exactly this! Full of wonders and abundance….and that was why I wrote this poem! LOL! I was dizzy with this realization…today, and yesterday, and tommorow!
I love the notion of Original Blessing, too….it is something to hang your hat on, and a great beginning step into this very different and arousing theology! IT GIVES GREAT HOPE~~
and that hope is in the now, not for when we are dead. LOL!
Thank you, Marousia, for reading and your on-spot comment!
Lady Nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 2:24 am
Thank you, Elizabeth!
No, doctrine doesn’t really matter, as long as we are working out of compassion for each other and the Earth. They are just words, some good, some bad and some rather indifferent, but usually with a lot of ‘passion’ behind them. LOL!
It will be a while before I am able to live up to the ‘reached self-actualization’ stage….or am in a state of total peace. LOLL! I have a lot of learning to do, but I’m on a particular road that feels right….the body and soul is not split.
I figured that “womb of God” statement would have drawn some fire, but I am very pleased, at least amongst the poetic field here…it is understood.
Thank you, Elizabeth…for reading and your lovely comment!
Lady Nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 3:00 am
Jane this is so, so beautiful…and totally aligned with my beliefs…love this line “Our first bellows are not of pain
But surprise at the roominess of the Cosmos” Gorgeous!
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January 25, 2012 at 3:37 am
Hello Laura!
I was hoping you would stop by…LOL! So much of Creation Spirituality is built upon ancient Jewish thought and belief. The best of all religions seem to make their way to Creation Spirituality!
I am dizzy with this study, because it fills and feeds my soul to an extent that I would never had thought possible. It is truly an ecumenical movement of thought, belief and compassion.
I am in a learning state, and my heart right now feels so…expansive! I have to confess that I wrote this little poem in a flash, about 5 minutes…lol….and it probably could be revised, but right now it satisfies some itching in my soul.
I feel like I have been asleep, Laura, for decades. I have found a belief system that meshes with my beliefs about Nature and the importance of this to a totally cosmology. To any theology. More and more I am understanding that what has happened to standard Christianity has been this disruption, this separation of Nature and the natural world from the theology. This has divorced humankind from a compassion and realization of the bigger picture: we are fundamentally attached on this Earth to all other species, and since we have the responsibilities NOT to destroy the Earth, we must move to do so in consideration that we are just a part of the web.
And funny, too…there is little anger in it, more sadness for me, that I came to this so late in life. But be that as it is, there is so much to embrace. Thomas Berry, who is a ecologian and a farmer, has a lot to say about the joining of Spirituality and the Earth. There are just so many mentors right now, and the mystics of the Rhine valley, etc…lead in my interest and study.
Thank you, dear Laura, for reading this poem and your lovely comment. I will make the rounds tomorrow when I can see!
Peace and Love,
Jane
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January 25, 2012 at 5:17 am
the rain, the tears of gratitude mingling…the being dizzy with love and searching for the heart of our being…i much like the path you took us with this jane..originals we are and woven in the womb of earth..
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January 25, 2012 at 11:55 am
Hi Claudia….
New for me, and a bit unsteady on my legs, but gaining ground in understanding something that has eluded me for so long.
I like being ‘good’ better than being ‘rotten’. LOL! Original Blessing is a message of hope, and we all need that.
Thanks for reading, Claudia, and your comment.
Jane
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January 25, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Beautiful and life-affirming words, jane. Thank you for bringing us all along on this walk through the wholeness of things. Your images are piercing, and I couldn’t agree with you more, as you know. Peace to you, and walk in beauty always, friend.
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January 25, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Dear Joy!
Your words are balm to my soul for a couple of reasons. Today, cleaning out my chicken coop, I thought of you, and wondered if the words of this poem would grate or comfort. I am concerned about these things with my friends because I believe strongly that we all have different paths, and I must be respectful to those paths. …..excepting fundamentalists, which are crazy making…LOL! They…are fair game.
Of course my concepts of God are so much broader than the above and to ‘them’ they look fruity indeed. LOL! But I don’t care, because there are truths that are being revealed as I read and open myself to the greatness of creation. We have narrowed down our potential once we have thrown out Nature and what Hildegard of Bingen says: “The juiciness of the Earth”.
And that is the crux of the issue for me: the fundies hold to the notion that ‘the earth and all about it are to serve mankind’ or something like this. It is anthropomorphic and ignores that we are just one species of this creation. It narrows down creation and furhters too much introspection. I think we need to expand our hearts and actions and vision here.
The Earth doesn’t belong to us, we belong to the Earth.
Thank you, Joy, for your reading and your heart warming comment. Peace to you, my dear friend.
Jane
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January 25, 2012 at 7:40 pm
This is so beautiful …. I especially like the first stanza, but I read I was pulled into the beauty of the entire piece. Well done!
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January 25, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Draw the dark blanket of the Cosmos
Across me,
Pillow my head upon stars
It really doesn’t matter what one thinks theologically – this is beautiful. And I agree, newborn babies and young children could NEVER go to hell or even purgatory.
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January 25, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Thank you, Margaret. I agree. There is no God in the Universe I know who would burden a child, a baby with such doctrine.
Thank you for reading and your life-affirming comment.
Lady Nyo
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January 25, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Thank you, Bajanpoet…
For reading and your supportive comment.
It was done fast, this composition, but some times the words come fast and you let it alone.
Lady Nyo…and I like that first stanza, too.
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January 25, 2012 at 11:04 pm
We both spoke of love this week, Jane. Mine not so steeped in the faith of the fathers and the patriarchy or accusing men..both are love songs. Mine to marriage, love, and family – the longevity of love wrapped in the sweetness of a waltz, sprinkled with cinnamon and giggled at by children. It’s comfort on a winter day. Yours is comfort for a lifetime, indeed it takes the sting of souls on gray rocks in “limbo” what and wherever that may have been away. The Catholic church now calls it (and purgatory btw) old mythologies. The writers of the Baltimore Catechism must be rolling in their graves. Cheers, sweetie. I’m staying for FormForAll tomorrow and then heading for Big D!
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January 26, 2012 at 1:44 am
Hi Sweetheart Gay!
I’m behind in my trolling the site, and will go and read yours tomorrow. Your words are like a psalm, Gay. You can’t help but be poetical.
Mine are the words of a heretic, and I embrace that fully. Heretic by the ‘church fathers’, and actually the basis of my ‘theology’ is older than the Church….LOL! It harkens back to the 9century bc. and we have lost the song until the 20th century. Creation Spirituality is made up of so much more than the doctrine and dogma of ‘founding fathers’….Yes, they must be rolling in their graves…LOL~
Original Blessing is something of hope and joy to me. I’m new on the path, but finally on a path.
Have a good trip, dear friend. Know my love follows you.
Jane
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