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The CJ in the MES is a story about how everything came to be.

In this journey, we invite you to:
IMAGINE how everything slowly took shape including ourselves; and
DISCOVER your own personal role and mission in the framework of the universe.
We hope you experience this discovery not through words but through silent and mindful treks
along the winding trails of the Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is divided into 14 Stations.
We hope that in each station and along each trail you may begin to experience a small and quiet
stirring of Awareness from within just as the gradual unfolding of the universe and of Mother
Earth began with small and quiet stirrings of Life.
The stories that will be shared in each station are also based from the formation of the Earth in
Maryknoll from the geological and biological shaping and the cultural manifestations
experienced here.

What Is Creation Spirituality?

Honoring all of creation as Original Blessing,
Creation Spirituality integrates
the wisdom of Eastern and Western spirituality
and global indigenous cultures,
with the emerging scientific understanding of the universe,
and the passion of creativity.
It is both a tradition and a movement,
celebrated by mystics and agents of social change
from every age and culture.
It is also the tradition of the historical Jesus himself
since it is the wisdom tradition of Israel.
Matthew Fox
Principles
1. The universe is fundamentally a blessing.
Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.
2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. This is panentheism which is not
theism (God out there) and not atheism (no God anywhere).
We experience that the Divine is in all things & all things are in the Divine.
3. God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as
the God in history, as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings.
We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.
4. In our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find our deep and true
selves.
Through the arts of meditation and silence we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear
into compassion and community.

5. Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:

awe, delight, amazement (known as the Via Positiva)
uncertainty, darkness, suffering, letting go (Via Negativa)
birthing, creativity, passion (Via Creativa)
justice, healing, celebration (Via Transformativa)
We weave through these paths like a spiral danced, not a ladder climbed.
6. Every one of us is a mystic.
We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and
suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover it at any age.
7. Every one of us is an artist.
Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is our prayer and praise (Via Creativa).
8. Every one of us is a prophet.
Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic
life (Via Transformativa).
9. Diversity is the nature of the Universe.
We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among
individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.
10. The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons
and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion.
We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one anothers joys and grieve at one
anothers sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.
11. There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of
Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected
from these wells is Deep Ecumenism.
We respect and embrace the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the
sacred traditions of the world.
12. Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth.
Ecology is the local expression of cosmology and so we commit to live in light of this value: to
pass on the beauty and health of Creation to future generations.
History
Creation Spirituality is an ancient tradition, named and articulated most emphatically beginning
in the 1970s by spiritual theologian Matthew Fox.
Drawing on the experiences, writings and rituals of all wisdom traditions, including indigenous
cultures, eastern and western spiritualities and contemporary science, Creation Spirituality runs
too deeply and broadly to be considered as founded or invented by one person, or indeed, one
tradition.
From his own perspective as a former Dominican priest, Fox writes: Creation Spirituality is not
a newly invented path, but for twentieth century Westerners it is a newly discovered path.
He further suggests, Creation Spirituality is a tradition: it has a past; it has historical and
biblical roots; it boasts a communion of saints.
In further works, Fox develops the conversation between western spirituality and other traditions
(see One River, Many Wells, ISBN-13: 978-1585423262); and with science (see Natural Grace,
by Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake ISBN-13: 978-0385483599); and with the passionate
creativity of art (see Creativity, ISBN 1-58542-178-2).

The term Creation Spirituality was named for Fox in 1967 by the French Theologian MD
Chenu, with whom he studied at LInstitute Catholique in Paris. Foxs teaching and writing
career led him to discover more deeply the common threads in countless traditions, and the
principles of Creation Spirituality came to be named as Fox further explored and articulated the
tradition. As a movement, Creation Spirituality becomes an amazing gathering place, a kind of
watering hole for person whose passion has been touched by the issues of our day deep
ecologists, ecumenists, artists, native peoples, justice activists, feminists, male liberationists, gay
and lesbian peoples, animal liberationists, scientists seeking to reconnect science and wisdom,
people of prophetic faith traditions all these find in the Creation Spirituality movement a
common language and a common ground on which to stand.
Creation Spirituality derives from the oldest tradition in the Bible (the J source) and it is
theWisdom Tradition in the Hebrew Biblethe tradition that scholars agree was the tradition of
the historical Jesus. Thus creation spirituality brings together the root sources of Christian
spirituality (along with other world traditions), those being 1) the historical Jesus and 2) the
Cosmic Christ. These represent the prophetic and the mystical roots of Christianity.

FOR ENDING: The Cosmic Mass is a community-based worship celebration designed to engage
body and spirit through acts of meditation, grieving, gratitude, sacred meal, and the most primal
form of worship dance.
Through worship we create community.
Every journey traverses the four paths of human experience
We dance together celebrating joy via positiva a dance of joy and delight (hands together
moving in a circle)
We grieve together via negativa grief experience (bent on the ground)
We reconnect via creative opening creativity to connect (bow to each other with hands
clasped at the heart)
We celebrate communion and defend compassionvia transformativa warrior dance for
community
We do so much more than pray through dance; as a community we gather to learn and leave the
mass empowered to take action as well!
Join us and take action in your community! Make a lasting difference in the world.
Let's leave the space truly empowered to take action in our lives and leave everyone we touch
inspired to make a difference in the world.
Real economics one that works for all humans and all beings in the planet
for a living economy that isn't based upon extraction and pollution is becoming essential. Join us
on February 8th to celebrate new possibilities while grieving the damage being done to Earth

the importance of changing our consciousness around boarders within our sensitive living
planet.
Students learn in very different wayssome by exams and papers and textsbut many through
their bodies, imaginations, hands and story tellingand given todays new technologies there are
multiple fresh ways to tell stories and the youth are quite at home with these languages.
Healing Arts
Wisdom education begins with the wisdom of the body. The modern educational system is based
on a worldview that radically separates the body from the mind. YELLAWE views the mind and
the body as part of the same cosmic process. The healing arts practices of YELLAWE begin
each session. These practices serve a variety of purposes: they center and calm the students,
helping them to concentrate; they integrate the body into the learning process in a positive way;
they give the student a practical skill they can take with them. First and foremost is the idea that
the body is an expression of the Universe, 13.7 billion years of cosmic wisdom, and it contains a
deep wisdom. This is a very different view of the body from what our youth hear on television.
Many different practices can be used: for example, meditation, qi gong, and hatha yoga. In each
case, the practice is led by a skilled and trained facilitator.

Wisdom Education
YELLAWE is different from many other programs emphasizing creativity in our insistence on
basing the creativity on the wisdom of the elders and ancestors. This phase of the pedagogy
addresses the same wisdom as the others, but from a more conceptual viewpoint. The
philosophy of the content of YELLAWE can be found in detail in Matthew Foxs The A.W.E.
Project, and is based in the 10 Cs. Usually, this dimension of the pedagogy comes after the
Healing Arts practice.

Creativity
The integration of this wisdom occurs during the creative expression of the students. During this
time, the students must re-learn the material by expressing it from their own, unique perspective.
In this way, the students not only learn, but become teachers in their own right. Students will
now begin to create their own wisdom as they create works of art.
While the students creativity can and will ultimately take over, it is important to have skilled
facilitators who also understand the YELLAWE philosophy. Any medium can serve this

purpose. In the past we have used African drumming and theater, but a special emphasis has
been placed on Hip Hop music and video production. Hip Hop has been a point of emphasis
because of the role it plays in the minds of the youth and the power of the images
unfortunately, mostly negative imagesit conveys. YELLAWE recognizes the necessity of
empowering youth through this creative medium because, ultimately, it is the creative vision of
our youth that determine the world they will create for the future.
Usually, creative expression is the final phase of the pedagogy. We tend to emphasize the
wisdom teaching more in the beginning of a semester, gradually phasing those lessons out to
leave more room for creativity.

10 Cs of YELLAWE Wisdom Education

(Drawn from Matthew Foxs book The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the
Human)
(1) Contemplation (p.108):
Contemplation should be the first C because the lesson should begin (as all lessons from this day
on) with specific healing art practice of the class. Students should understand the basic meaning
and purpose of contemplation and meditation, as well as the philosophy and cosmology
underpinning the practice.
What does contemplation mean?
Basic philosophy of Chi Gung (some basics about the body in Chinese cosmology)
Basic Philosophy of Yoga practice (seven chakras [p.141] and eight limbs)
(The seven chakras of yoga practice moves right into the next C.)
(2) Character and Chakra Development (p.138):
In order to see the interconnectedness, the contemplative practice should move right into a
discussion of Character. Contemplative practice serves not only to find inner peace, but to
cultivate ones character in facing the world. What are the attributes that make up a persons
character? Use a diagram of the human with the seven chakras. Begin with the students ideas
about what constitutes a whole person and good character. From that list, place appropriate ideas
on the diagram and describe the attributes of each chakra. (p.141)

(3) Cosmology & Ecology (p.104):

The human body, as discussed in the first two Cs, is not separate from the world, but part of an
interconnected community of beings. The chakra system, as in many cultures, shows the human
body as a microcosm of the Universe. (The Seven Chakras are paralleled by the seven cosmic
spheres). While both cosmology and ecology will be studied extensively, students should
understand some basic definitions at this point:
Ecology comes from the Greek Oikos meaning home. It refers to the living community that
is our true home.
Cosmology comes from the Greek Cosmos meaning both beauty and order. It refers to
the study of the Universe and how we can find a meaningful and unique place in it. Cosmology
is how we see our connections to one another and the world.
(4) Chaos & Darkness (p.115):
Chaos provides the balance for Cosmos. Students should recognize the difference between
opposites (eg good and evil) and the dynamic tension of concepts like chaos and cosmos (or yin
and yang, which is particularly important if students are using a contemplative practice based on
the Chinese system). It refers to disorder now, but comes from a Greek word meaning void
or emptiness. At this point, students should become familiar with both of these definitions. To
begin with, ask the students what associations they make with chaos and darkness. If students
come up with negative associations, encourage them to begin to think of how they can be seen
positively.
(5) Compassion (p.121):
Students should understand the meaning of compassion. It literally means to feel with (Latin
com=with/pathos=feel). This is different from feeling sorry for someone or even to do what one
thinks is fair. An emphasis can be placed how compassion is linked with a mothers care for a
child. Students will be encouraged, as YELLAWE proceeds, to see how they can live their lives
more compassionately.
(6) Community (p.130):
In many ways, ones capacity for compassion has to do with how community is defined. At this
stage, the students should simply define what their community is. Students should be
encouraged to think of community in ways that move beyond physical proximity.
(7) Critical Consciousness & Judgment (p.126):

What does it mean to think critically? When we are given information, do we always accept it?
Whom do we trust? Friends? Parents? Peers?
(8) Courage (p.124):
Compassion is not possible if we lack courage. And our Critical Consciousness doesnt do us
much good without courage, either. As the students for examples of courageous people.
9) Creativity (p.111):
Students should understand that the third phase of the program is creative, and that they are
expected to create something based upon the class. In addition, students should recognize how
the YELLAWE pedagogy is different in its emphasis on the students creativity. Instead of being
given information to learn, the students become teachers as they integrate lessons and
experiences and express them in their own, unique way. It is also helpful to ask the students
what creative talents and interests they bring to the program.
(10) Ceremony, Celebration, & Ritual (p.136): Questions for discussion:
What rituals do you have in your lives?
Why is ritual important for people of every culture and how does it build community?
What happens to a society that has lost its rituals? An example: gang initiations that have arisen
in the absence of traditional rites of passage.
Note that the students will have a ceremony as a way to share with the community and integrate
what they have learned.

In almost all provinces and regions in the Philippine archipelago there are festivities and
celebrations. Some festivities were reenactments of historical experiences that manifest the
peoples source of pride, justice, and freedom. In the Cordillera, there are festivities and
celebrations that are uniquely indigenous but not popular in the Philippines