All things are created through divine self-emptying!

 

Lakota elder and chief Albert White Hat, Sr. tells the story of the Creator - Inyan - who "began creation by draining its blood and from this blood created a huge disk around itself.  Inyan called this disk Maka, the earth."  Then, "Draining its blood for each new creation, Inyan became weaker and weaker.  The last to be created was the Human nation."  "When creation was complete, Inyan was dry and brittle and broke apart and scattered all over the world."  Similarly, in the Christian mystical tradition, we have a God who creates by kenosis - by self-emptying.  Jesus embodies this kenosis when he compares himself to a seed which must fall into the ground and die in order for all things to be brought to birth.  Tibetan Buddhists speak as well of releasing all things into spacious awareness - the Dharmakaya - and then presiding over the reemergence of all things -  in all of their vividness - from that vast, transparent "Emptiness."  I'm reminded of this principle of death and resurrection as well in the lives of many of the people I know.  Because of some early trauma, each of us has ended up going into a field of work that will help heal others who've been through similar sufferings.  In this way, the "death" we've experienced truly leads to the "resurrection" of life in others!

Photo: Pasqueflowers, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 12, 2014