Viriditas

I’ve been reading about the life and teachings of Hildegard and have been intrigued by her concept of viriditas – the greening life force which emanates from God. We tend to think that our lifeforce -whatever it is that shines from our eyes and which leaves our bodies cold and inanimate in death- is something which is totally our own individually owned thing. It’s ours until we die and it passes on, disappears or reincarnates depending on your viewpoint. The thinking behind viriditas is that, not only does our lifeforce come from God and return to God, it remains part of God throughout our lives.

This is a very panentheistic concept and leads to some exciting (to me anyway!) further thoughts:
- We are a constituent element of God;
- We are in God every moment of every day;
- We are in relationship with all other life-forces through the one viriditas. Not only are all people part of a shared force but so are all living things;
- We are not individual, we exist in a community of interconnectedness.

In John 14 v10 Jesus says “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me” – normally taken as a special claim by Jesus. But what if it isn’t a special claim? What if Jesus is talking about the concept of viriditas? And what if this opens a new way to seeing Jesus’s message: as being centred on the interconnectedness of all things. The kingdom of God is not a place or a destination, it’s where life happens; where viriditas flows.