Now more than ever we all long for order in which fairness, justice and compassion for all people is demonstrated by our respective governments. Saint Hildegard had her own “unruly-ness” to the powers of the church by allowing an excommunicated nobleman to be buried in the cemetery at the convent. Whose teaching was she following in taking that unruly action? That teaching is still relevant today.
Isn’t it time you became unruly? In unruliness, find your own mystic heart.
Now more than ever relevant!
Audiences everywhere are fired up by Saint Hildegard’s 12th Century activism, creativity and ability to speak her mind from 800 years ago.
To honor the U.S. National Parks 100th Anniversary in 2016, I am proud to release the following clip from my new work in progress documentary, The Unruly Mystic: John Muir. In this clip, we hear from Stephen Hatch, author of The Contemplative John Muir, who shares some insight of the nature view of the Ecological Prophets John Muir and Saint Hildegard of Bingen around the trans-formative power of waterfalls.
The following is taken from a review of The Unruly Mystic, by my longtime friend, Nicole Barchilon Frank, who was about to embark on her own 10 month spiritual sabbatical in Ireland when I saw her in Boulder, Colorado.
Nicole Barchilon Frank
A few days ago I watched my friend Michael Conti’s film, The Unruly Mystic. The film is about his spiritual journey and his exploration of the life of Saint Hildegard of Bingen. I first learned about Hildegard from my botanist friend Jolie Egert Elan of Go Wild Consulting. Jolie is definitely an unruly herbal mystic. I guess I am one also, unruly in all kinds of directions.
It turns out Michael, Jolie and I, we’re in good company.
Excerpt
In today’s era, heeding the call of the Divine, is still thought of as crazy or radical. It’s never really a safe thing to pay attention to the other side, to the call of the wild, the earth, the angels, the Holy (however you conceive of that or connect to it). Once you listen, really listen, there are oceans full of energy, voices, and information. It can actually make you a little “nuts.” Not paying attention though, is truly dangerous. With our world full of mess, suffering, climate change and violence, the only way through into what Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche calls Enlightened Society, is to wake up and listen and start making a connection with the basic essential goodness of who we are. Once we do that we can move towards repair and mending and healing of the world around us. We can embody Tikkun Olam.
So, being called unruly, makes sense, once you are able to hear the call of the Wild and Powerful Divine within, then you have to figure out how to translate that. If your message is true, it will survive naysayers, wars, eons, folks who cannot relate and it will come into the greater world. Hildegard of Bingen was hearing voices, healing, and channeling what she experienced in the Middle Ages.
