Praying with the Elements for Advent: Week 4: Air

Reflecting on the Infinite, we celebrate the element of Water; in our bodies, in our world, and in our hearts. Breathing deeply, watching our breath, let us honor the direction of the East as we celebrate the element of Air, the rebirth of spring, the breath of life; photosynthesis, a sacred icon to the depth of communion of all things.

“The universe began with a great outpouring of cosmic breath that has complexified over billions of years until it could burst forth as evergreen forests and alpine meadows, with their cicadas and fireflies.”[i] Creation and destruction; life and death are unified in continual transformation throughout the cosmos.

“Atoms are mostly empty space. Matter is composed chiefly of nothing.”[ii] In our Stories “Air is the creative force, the spirit moving over the face of the waters…the Word of God breathing life into the world…the divine command that sets so many creation stories in motion. It is the first of the elements that create and support our lives.”[iii]

“Air also embodies ideas in speech and language, in song and in the sweet airs of music. Air is a physical substance; it embraces us so intimately that we cannot say where we leave off and air begins. Inside as well as outside we are minutely designed for the central activity of our existence –drawing the atmosphere into the center of our being, deep into the moist, delicate membranous labyrinth within our chests, and putting it to use.”[iv]

Believe it or not, oxygen began as a poison. But the crisis of the Great Oxygenation brought on evolutionary innovations.Now“Each breath is a sacrament, an affirmation of our connection with all other living things, a renewal of our link with our ancestors and a contribution to generations yet to come. Our breath is a part of life’s breath, the ocean of air that envelops Earth. Unique in the solar system, air is both the creator and the creation of life itself.”[v]

Climate change is changing the very air we breathe, the very atmosphere of the planet. Like the great oxygenation, climate change is pushing the threshold of livable conditions. 3 million people die of air pollution each year. But change is in the air. Millions of people are beginning to wake up to the possibilities of an ecologically sustainable global civilization. We have the choice to the Great Unravelling into the Great Turning.

Participation: [Using our breath, say a word or phrase that is elicited by the element of Air.]

Meditation: [Focus your attention on your breath. Let the air pass through your nostrils and fill your lungs. Feel your lungs slowly fill and then deflate as your body pulls in oxygen and expels carbon dioxide. Focus on the entire process of breathing and how each moment changes. Imagine trees doing the opposite.]

[i] Brian T. Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker, Journey of the Universe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 5.

[ii] Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, PBS Television Series, 1980.

[iii] The Sacred Balance, 50.

[iv] Ibid., 54.

[v] Ibid, 63.