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May you be blessed with artful health.
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By Rick McVicar
As the creator of Artful Brain Health, I have broadened the scope of this website to include eco-spirituality and New Testament commentary. Now why would I do such a thing? How does it fit the rest of the website that is focused on the arts and brain health?
For starters, spirituality and the arts offer mental pathways leading toward wholeness for both people and nature.
Spirituality and the arts have historically been connected. Examples include stained glass windows and sacred music. Indigenous people have used drums in their spiritual rituals. The arts have often used nature as subject matter, so that moving on to the environment and eco-spirituality seems like a good fit.
So what is eco-spirituality, and how does it fit in with brain health?
My understanding of eco-spirituality follows on the heels of reading, “Hope and Mourning in the Anthropocene: Understanding Ecological Grief.” The article by E.Neville and A. Cunsolo can be found in The Conversation, April 4, 2018.
The article discusses eco-grief and other mental health challenges caused by the climate crisis. The authors use a term, “solastagia,” to describe feelings similar to homesickness brought by the loss of environments identified with selfhood. A type of anxiety created by the climate crisis is being experienced on a mass scale.
So climate has impinged upon brain health. That is why adding eco-spirituality to this website makes for a good fit. But why the New Testament?
Because that is my background. I hold a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University and I would like to put it to use. I want to explore how Christian scriptures relate to nature, whether they offer a friendly attitude toward nature or not.
Now the New Testament may not be a part of your background. That is okay by me. I would hope, however, that when you look at your tradition's sacred writings, you ask how they relate to nature.
So with all these connections in mind, the mission of Artful Brain Health is:
A website offering resources for transformation, despite any challenges faced either internally in the brain or externally in the environment.
May your day be filled with good artful health.
If you would like to support the mission of Artful Brain Health, you can donate through PayPal. Just click on the link at the top. Money will be used for website hosting services and animation software.
