As it is in Heaven, so it is on Earth
We are in God and God is in us, and the unifying force is the Spirit. To live in the Spirit is the fulfillment of every law and commandment, the sum of every duty to each other, and the joy of oneness with everything that is. —Thomas Keating
I was all set to go on about the concept of as above so below represented by the above photo and realized there are many interpretations of those words. So, for my purposes I will briefly reflect on the origins of this particular piece of choreography based on an ancient idea, but translated through movement into a contemporary pose. It reflects my understanding of the meaning. The pose “speaks to the interconnectedness of all things and the mirroring between different levels of existence.” What if we really grasped a more reverent concept of body as stated by Bruno Latour as:
an interface that becomes more and more describable as it learns to be affected by more and more elements . . .
Perhaps, if we could notice the lack of wholeness we are experiencing, we could aid in the healing process at whatever level is possible, counteracting the incongruencies before they became too serious. While modern day explanations of as above so below cross scientific, psychological and practical understandings, I’m using the words “as it is in heaven, so it is on earth” —a similar idea—to question and perhaps observe how I interact daily in transposing my internal affiliation with the divine in transposing my life through the production of art in a world experiencing fatigue and transformation.
At face value, the dancer’s pose captured above arose from a journey into myself as a female artist of color, classically trained, and a sacred dancer. It evolved into an eight minute unfinished piece of choreography; perhaps still evolving, observing myself as fractured, but at my depths knowing myself to be whole — in a society engrossed in division, categorization, and misidentifications instead of practices of unity serving the needs of all people; drawing us together.
Viewing the pose again after many years and without choreographic notes (I never save my choreographic minutes as they differ greatly from the finished product); I can only guess at what I was thinking at the time or being moved to portray. One thing for sure it had to do with my connection to spirit, how my body is attuned to the divine in no uncertain terms: God in me; and that’s a fearless God.
I’m reminded of the words of Nina Simone (1933-2003), American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist :
I’ll tell you what freedom is. Freedom is no fear.
The Spirit emanating through the universe is in all of us. The pure love of a force so powerful and nurturing it can cleanse the inner spirit of human thoughtforms, recreate life on earth, and resurrect us from ignorance, hatred, and all manner of evil. Reflecting on the position, I’m surmising that it might have to do with how we can be channels for virtues like hope, love, joy, and beauty and that these kinds of interaction arise in many ways through relationship from the way we look at another person, how we speak respectfully to another individual and how we project our thoughts toward someone who appears different from us; because we are all contributing in some manner or another — either positively or negatively.
From years of experience, I know that Inspiration is real, alive and natural; flowing like water from an unknown source, from above. The image is an open one—a feeling of oneness that reaches both skyward and toward the earth. The heart exposed suggests perhaps that during our sojourn on earth the content of our beingness is essential to what pours out of us. And I’ll be perfectly honest, sometimes keeping the content pure and grace-filled can be difficult some days, but we keep trying.
My childhood memory of this kind of wisdom is in the form of a flame above our heads, something fleeting, but freeing in so many ways. The flame does not get extinguished in the transgressions of life and the perils of the human condition. It burns away and transforms all that is unholy, eventually purifying all things.
Transformation is a necessary antidote to hatred, anger, evil and disharmony, but we have to bring that love down from heaven to earth into our hearts, minds, and verbal expressions.
The past year observing how I have perceived myself has been incredibly rich in that my worldview has widened so much that it’s incomprehensible to think that I had such a narrow view of life. So of course my view of Wisdom and the third unit of the Trinity has evolved as well; way beyond that of a flame to a much wider view of wisdom. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), prophetess, polymath, writer, composer, and mystic complements my thoughts:
I, the highest and fiery power, have kindled every living spark and I have breathed out nothing that can die. . . . I flame above the beauty of the fields; I shine in the waters, in the sun, the moon and the stars. I burn. And by means of the airy wind, I stir everything into quickness with a certain invisible life which sustains all. . . . I, the fiery power, lie hidden in these things and they blaze from me.
According to Hildegard, it sounds almost magical if we were to consciously become active participants in the process of overcoming evil with goodness. It seems that our role is significant, perhaps more so than we realize.
Reexamine all that you have been told in school, in church, or in any book and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in words, but in the silent lines of your lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body. —Walt Whitman
I wonder what Walt Whitman was thinking about when he wrote those lines from his Introduction to Leaves of Grass first published in 1855 with numerous modifications of the text until his death in 1895. Perhaps, the many modifications are a message to us to keep striving, changing and transforming ourselves. To periodically step beyond our current situation into our Imagination, envisioning possibilities of something new. Perhaps, a better and truly equitable society; one shaped by truth, compassion, justice, and neighborliness.