The Restory is a Retreat Centre nestled against Tafelkop, a singular mountain head near Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Here we live a simple life as contemplatives.
It is a place of re-connection: with ourselves, people, Nature, Silence and Creativity. Our retreats are aimed at this. Our conversations, writing and art centre around the univocity of life. We need a place that reminds us that we are all one. The Restory hopes to be such a place and space.
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From The Restory - Conversations On The Journey (113)
Our creativity and our spirituality are so closely interconnected
they are in effect one and the same thing.
Speaking of God, we often use the words “Maker” or “Creator”
without recognizing that those are the terms for “artist.”
God is the Great Artist.
We are creations
and we are intended, in turn, to be creative ourselves.”
Julia Cameron
~ ❖ ~
What if we were to replace "creative" in the Matisse quote with "spiritual"?
Being creative can have a huge impakt on our God-image.
Music
"Jazz helps us be sensitive to the whole range of existence.
Far from offering us rose-colored glasses …
it realistically speaks of sorrow and pain….
Jazz stimulates us to feel deeply and truthfully….
Jazz thunders a mighty “yes.”
Alvin L. Kershaw
May your leaning back into the creative God's love, stimulate you to be creative with abandon.
With our love.
PS. Our friend, Carol Preston, commented on today's conversation. In her comment she mentions the dragon she's been working on for 2 years. It won't fit into the comment section, but it is so beautiful and meaningful, that we want to make it part of the post.
Your conversation really resonated with me, more than usual. As an artist I often immerse myself in a piece of work and then look at it later and think: “where did that come from?” Because more often than not it did not come from me. I am working on a graphic novel and I can spend hours at a time on it, drawing little circles and dotting tiny dots. It becomes a spiritual meditation, as does time in Matilda’s pottery studio when I go there. I believe the process of creativity is more than a gift of a talent, it is a gift of time, and if used wisely, a gift to others who view the work. I have added an image of the dragon who is the key character of the novel. It has taken me two years so far and I am not half way yet, but it is the biggest gift of love I have received from Spirit – the time to work on it, the space to meditate while I do so, and the knowledge that the finished product does not come from me.
The beauty, Carol, is that even though it didn't come from you, it cannot happen without you. YOU are the channel through which Spirit flows. You don't become redundant in the process. "Without God we cannot. Without us He will not." (St Augustine)
Wakkerstroom Klassieke Musiekfees 2025 20 - 23 Maart 2025 “God sprei die hemel uit oor die leë ruimte, Hy laat die aarde hang waar niks is nie. Hy versamel die water in die wolke, en hulle skeur nie onder die las nie. Hy plaas die horison op die see, 'n grens tussen lig en donker. Dit is maar die begin van sy dade, ons hoor net die gefluister van sy woorde. Maar die volle krag van sy dade, wie kan dit verstaan?” Job 26:7-8, 10, 14 AFR83 Dit is weer daardie tyd van die jaar! Herfs is oral sigbaar en voelbaar en daar is die geur van kreatiwiteit en voorbereidings in die lug wanneer jy ons klein dorpie binnekom. Hierdie naweek bied ons ons jaarlikse Wakkerstroom Klassieke Musiekfees aan. Wonderlike, talentvolle musikante van oral, tegniese spanne en die mense wat hulle optredes sal bywoon, stroom na Wakkerstroom. Musiek is nie die enigste item ...
Wat Die Mistici Weet 2) Ons Hoef Nie Perfek Te wees Nie “Kom na My toe, almal wat vermoeid en swaar belas is, en Ek sal julle rus gee. Neem my juk op julle, en leer van My, omdat Ek sagmoedig en nederig van hart is, en julle sal rus vind vir julle gemoed. Want my juk is draaglik en my las is lig.” Matteus 11:28-30 AFR20 Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek ~ ❖ ~ Question of the Day: How does one incorporate imperfection? In a Navajo rug there is always one clear imperfection woven into the pattern. And interestingly enough, this is precisely where the Spirit moves in and out of the rug! The Semitic mind, the Eastern mind (which, by the way, Jesus would have been much closer to) understands perfection in precisely that way. The East is much more comfortable with paradox, mystery, and non-dual thinking than the Western mind which ...
I have no way of proving that God exists. For a long, long time I believed because I didn't think I had a choice. If it is a choice between heaven and hell, you do what it takes to secure your celestial seat. Somehow I never stopped to consider why I so strongly believed in a heaven and hell, but wasn't nearly as sure that there's a God holding the keys to them. Then the sunbirds came. Slowly but surely I am being taught the dialect I need to converse with God. Or rather, to follow on what seems to be a trail that God leaves me. Being just up ahead and beckoning me all the while, it's not a chase after or a search for God, but rather a joint venture with God scouting and reporting back when my spirit runs low on this journey through life. In A Rare Find and Bird on my window sill I touched on synchronicity. I have come to believe that consciously living our moments, awakens us to the fact that there are more things in this life than meet the eyeball. Things t...
Carol Preston:
ReplyDeleteYour conversation really resonated with me, more than usual. As an artist I often immerse myself in a piece of work and then look at it later and think: “where did that come from?” Because more often than not it did not come from me. I am working on a graphic novel and I can spend hours at a time on it, drawing little circles and dotting tiny dots. It becomes a spiritual meditation, as does time in Matilda’s pottery studio when I go there. I believe the process of creativity is more than a gift of a talent, it is a gift of time, and if used wisely, a gift to others who view the work. I have added an image of the dragon who is the key character of the novel. It has taken me two years so far and I am not half way yet, but it is the biggest gift of love I have received from Spirit – the time to work on it, the space to meditate while I do so, and the knowledge that the finished product does not come from me.
The beauty, Carol, is that even though it didn't come from you, it cannot happen without you. YOU are the channel through which Spirit flows. You don't become redundant in the process.
ReplyDelete"Without God we cannot. Without us He will not." (St Augustine)