Soothing Novelty
&
The Music of Calm
"Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a
different order than the one you have in mind."
— David G. Allen
different order than the one you have in mind."
— David G. Allen
Patience is the calm acceptance of novelty. Not that all novelty is calming. Some can be frightening, disorienting, and disastrous. But novelty can also be, and often is, soothing and refreshing. It's not just that all things change; it's that all things are different from what has been, and difference is soothingly beautiful. The idea that we live in a creative and open-ended universe need not mean that we must live frenetically. It can mean that, oftentimes, we calmly accept that things can happen in a different order than we have in mind. In these moments there is a coalescence of peace and novelty, calmness and adventure, acceptance and surprise.
How might we be disposed toward soothing novelty? Well, for one thing, it can help to imagine the very mystery at the heart of the universe, God, as filled with soothing novelty: infinitely patient with all that is new in the universe. In describing what he calls the consequent nature of God, Whitehead writes:
Another image which is also required to understand his consequent nature is that of his infinite patience...God's rôle is not the combat of productive force with productive force, of destructive force with destructive force; it lies in the patient operation of the overpowering rationality of his conceptual harmonization. He does not create the world, he saves it: or, more accurately, he is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness. (Process and Reality)
Sometimes it helps to have practices that help orient us toward a trust in divine patience. They can be familiar modes of meditation and prayer, facilitated by material objects that invite us into a capacity for calmness. Here are some named by Maggie Oman Shannon in her book Crafting Calm, reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spirituality and Practice.
Another way, helpful for so many, is the music of calm. Hear, for example, the music offered by John Schaefer of New Sounds below. You'll feel the calm and you'll feel the novelty. Music is a flow of audible novelty with recognizable but surprising, sometimes incredibly refreshing for the ear. Enjoy the flow.
- Jay McDaniel, 4/30/22
How might we be disposed toward soothing novelty? Well, for one thing, it can help to imagine the very mystery at the heart of the universe, God, as filled with soothing novelty: infinitely patient with all that is new in the universe. In describing what he calls the consequent nature of God, Whitehead writes:
Another image which is also required to understand his consequent nature is that of his infinite patience...God's rôle is not the combat of productive force with productive force, of destructive force with destructive force; it lies in the patient operation of the overpowering rationality of his conceptual harmonization. He does not create the world, he saves it: or, more accurately, he is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness. (Process and Reality)
Sometimes it helps to have practices that help orient us toward a trust in divine patience. They can be familiar modes of meditation and prayer, facilitated by material objects that invite us into a capacity for calmness. Here are some named by Maggie Oman Shannon in her book Crafting Calm, reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spirituality and Practice.
- Prayer beads
- Anointing Oils
- Sacred Bath Salts
- Personal Prayer Flags
- Prayer Cards
- Power Pouches
- Prayer Stones
- Prayer Cards
- Portable Shrines
- Spiritual Toolboxes
- Personal Holy Books
Another way, helpful for so many, is the music of calm. Hear, for example, the music offered by John Schaefer of New Sounds below. You'll feel the calm and you'll feel the novelty. Music is a flow of audible novelty with recognizable but surprising, sometimes incredibly refreshing for the ear. Enjoy the flow.
- Jay McDaniel, 4/30/22