(art by Yelena Bryksenkova)
In the Tao Te Ching, Chinese philosopher Lau-Tzu wrote, “Continuously create instead of acquiring and enjoy what you create.” Many will dismiss this idea because they have narrowed their perception of creating to only crafting art, poetry, music, film, novels, or plays. Creating is for artists alone is a false narrative. Creation is not limited to just those gifted and talented folk. I have come to believe that one can create and craft a life of beauty and poetry for oneself. Do we view our lives, our daily, quotidian lives as a form of creation? It’s something I have begun to focus on in my own.
Creating a life is about forming one that has purpose and meaning, about finding beauty and poetry in the common ordinary acts so that they become sacred rituals.
Before I turn on a lamp, I light a candle. There is something softer, more gentle and contemplative about allowing the first light to be the simple flame of a candle. It’s also a way of approaching and framing my day as sacred, as holy. It’s become a formative practice that constitutes a kind of daily liturgy or what Tish Harrison Warren calls “the liturgy of the ordinary.”
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