On Tuesday the 15th of
May, Angela Gallipoli conducted the monthly Spiritual Reading Group in the
Carmelite Library on Christine Valters Paintner. Here is Angela’s introductory
paper at that seminar.
I first came across the
author Christine Valters Paintner while in the
Carmelite Library.
One of her books was
prominently displayed on a bookshelf, and I was drawn to it, initially by the
dazzling cover, displaying a single, flaming red autumn leaf, and then by its
captivating title : Eyes of the Heart:
Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice . The work is about cultivating one’s inner and
outer vision, about receiving images
rather than taking them, and about
discovering the holy in everything. I found it a most enriching and inspiring book to read, particularly its exploration of
the principles of photography as metaphors for the spiritual journey, as well
as the many creative and contemplative processes offered to the reader to
engage in and explore.
I then went on to discover
and read several more of her works. These included :
The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing your Creative Soul with
Monastic Wisdom;
Illuminating the Way : Embracing the Wisdom of Monks
and Mystics;
Desert Fathers and Mothers : Early Christian Wisdom
Sayings (annotated and explained);
Water, Wind, Earth and Fire : the Christian Practice
of Praying with the Elements; and
The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey
Within.
As these book titles
suggest, Christine’s works deal with spiritual and soul journeying, exploring
the spiritual wisdom of monks, mystics and early Christians, and engaging creative
spiritual practices as tools for the development and enhancement of one’s
spiritual life.
Christine Valters Paintner
is a Benedictine oblate, writer, poet and expressive artist, and her life and
work is very much concerned with integrating the contemplative with the
creative. Originally from New
York City, she lived in Seattle, Washington, until the spring of 2012, when
together with her husband John, she sold up everything and moved overseas,
firstly to Austria, her father’s native country, and then on to Galway, on the west
coast of Ireland, where she lives out her commitment as a monk
in the world.
Christine has a Bachelor degree in Philosophy,
and a Masters degree in Systematic Theology.
She completed her Doctorate (PhD) in Christian
Spirituality, through the Graduate
Theological Union in Berkeley (California). Christine is also a trained Spiritual Director
and supervisor, and a registered Expressive Arts Consultant and educator (with
the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association). She is a yoga teacher trainer, and a
facilitator of the expressive arts practice of Dancing Mindfulness.
Together with her husband John, Christine has developed and runs a virtual online
monastery called Abbey of the Arts. The
website portal offers self-study online courses, some of which are companion
courses to her books, as well as a range of resources including books, icon
images, CDs and DVDs relating to the work of the Abbey. The couple also offer
spiritual pilgrimages, visiting monastic
sites and sacred landscapes in Europe , including Ireland, Germany and Austria.
Over the past decade, Christine
Valters Paintner has authored ten books.
In addition to the works previously mentioned above,
Christine has also written books on the ancient contemplative practice
of Lectio Divina, the
use of the creative arts in Spiritual Direction, and connecting women to their bodily
wisdom and wholeness, through writing, visual art and movement.
Her most
recent book, The Soul’s Slow Ripening, to
be published later in 2018, explores twelve spiritual practices informed by Celtic
spirituality and the lives of the Celtic saints.
Christine
also has a first collection of poetry, titled The Dreaming of Stones, due to be published in 2019.
In her writings and works,
Christine Valters Paintner draws from numerous traditions and influences,
including: Benedictine spirituality, the
Desert Fathers and Mothers, Celtic Christian monasticism, the concept of Nature
as a revelation of God, and the creative and expressive arts.
As a child, Christine had a love of
the natural world, and already had some sense of its connection to the sacred,
as she describes in the Introduction to Water,
Wind, Earth and Fire :
“In the summers, my family would travel to my father’s native Austria and
spend time hiking in the Vienna woods and the Tyrolean mountains. Even though
my parents were not religious people, as a small child I had a profound sense
of that stunning, humbling mountainous landscape as a window onto something much
larger and more powerful than myself that I would eventually come to name God.”
In her book Lectio Divina, Christine speaks about the importance of Benedictine
spirituality in her life :
“What drew me to becoming a Benedictine oblate was the profoundly
balanced way of life that Benedict proposed in his rule… Benedict believed that everything was sacred
– even kitchen utensils were to be treated as reverentially as the vessels used
on the altar. The routine of fixed hour
prayer, with its reading of Scripture and saying of prayers regularly
throughout the day and evening, becomes a way of sanctifying time. Benedictine spirituality calls me to move
through my day mindfully, remembering the sacredness of each act, each object,
each encounter with another person. In a world where business is praised and
productivity is the sole measure of value, the monastic path offers me support
and guidance in choosing to live in a contemplative way, with more presence in
everything I do.” (Lectio Divina, p.18)
Another major influence on
Christine’s decision to become an oblate was the 12th century
Benedictine abbess, Hildegard of Bingen:
“I was smitten with her creative
breath and outpouring , her love of music, her poetic writing.
I wanted to know more about what shaped and inspired her soul, which led
me to the Benedictine path. She was the doorway to my growing love of
monasticism and eventually my becoming an oblate”. ( biographical comments on the Abbey of the Arts website)
Christine Valters Paintner’s works deal with
the human longing and desire to seek out the sacred and to encounter God in our
lives. They invite us to embark on journeys of spiritual and soul pilgrimage,
and to embrace the art of contemplative and creative spiritual living, which
involves cultivating and nurturing aspects of ourselves through which
communication and relationship with the Holy can be fostered.
For Christine, the
contemplative state is a particular state of heart, and “the heart of the contemplative
path” is slowing down, paying attention, and becoming fully present, whether
this be to the sacred word, to an image or object, to ourselves or others, or to nature and the
world around us. In The Artist’s Rule, she states: “ One fruit of contemplation is that
we slowly become more conscious of everything as a sacred vessel : each person
and object, each moment in time is a dwelling place for the Holy Presence”. (p.
38).
And in Lectio Divina, she states : “ While
contemplation is fundamentally a posture of being and resting into God’s
presence, if we commit to regular practice, it will inevitably infuse our doing
in the world.”.
( p 136).
Spiritual and monastic practices
(such as cultivating silence, creating sacred spaces and rhythms, praying
Lectio Divina) are presented, in Christine’s works, as the means by which we deepen
our encounter with the sacred. Further
practices, (such as obedience, stability, and beginning again) assist us to stay
on the path, and help us to get back on course, in the face of challenges,
difficulties and resistances faced on our spiritual journeys. In the process of
our spiritual practices, both we, and our lives are transformed. We develop new
ways of being, seeing, hearing, relating and expressing ourselves, in our
lives, and in the world. We become more open, receptive and present in a
heart-centred way, both to ourselves and to God.
The creative and
expressive arts, (such as poetry, writing, photography, mandala drawing,
collage, body movement and dance, chanting and toning), are presented as processes
by which we can enter contemplative states of being and consciousness. They
help us to become present to, and be able to express our experiences, in the
moment, as they unfold within us. They are “each unique languages of the soul”,
which can take us on journeys of exploration, discovery, revelation and prayer,
and truth-telling, when they issue from the heart instead of from the mind or
ego. This form of creative expression is
concerned with process, not product, and it is most important to notice moments
of self-judgement and criticism, and to be able to breathe, stay present, and
let them go.
In her books, Christine
Valters Paintner draws from both her own personal experiences and spiritual
journeying, and from the wisdom and insights of the spiritual traditions which
she has embraced. She speaks from her heart and shares intimately from her own
personal experiences and convictions. Throughout her books, Christine
extensively quotes from and references other spiritual writers, both ancient
and more recent, which helps to expand the reader’s experience and
understanding of the themes and topics being discussed, as well as serving as a
useful introduction to those writers.
Christine’s books really
need to be read “with the heart”, and are meant to be “worked through” rather
than simply read through intellectually, in order for the reader to gain the
most benefit from the many reflections, suggestions for prayer and
creative exercises and meditations that she offers, with the emphasis being on
the process, not the product, of any creative endeavour that she suggests.
Christine Valters
Paintner’s books offer the reader creative ways to deepen their
experience of spirituality and the Divine. Her works suggest that to have the
experience or encounter of the sacred, one has to engage in the process of
relating and communicating, whether this occurs in contemplation, prayer,
meditation, physical or creative activity, and that one needs to be centred in
one’s “heart-space” during this engagement.
Her works can inspire and guide us to change our
perspectives, our patterns, our ways of “seeing” and responding to life and
what it presents, so that we can have deeper, more meaningful and more sacred experiences
of living in every moment.
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