Knowing God through your body
by JVS on Apr.08, 2010, under 2010
Yesterday these words from dance choreographer Wen Wei Wang caught my attention, “I read movement like other people read words.” My immediate reaction was, “I want to learn that language too! So that I can discern God’s truth through the world of movement, via his greatest handiwork, the human body.”
The quote came from a larger comment included in a Globe and Mail interview, “I have a physical memory. For example, I remember every step I ever danced or created. I read movement like other people read words. I see dance language in a visual way – like a moving picture or sculpture in space. I create pictures into which the audience can read their own stories.” That last line reminded me of what Jesus said when asked why he couched his truth in all of those mysterious parables, “That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight.” (Matthew 13, The Message).
I think there are all kinds of stories, spoken in all kinds of languages through which God speaks his truth. A book on science and beauty just arrived in the mail today (The Evidential Power of Beauty; Science and Theology meet, Thomas Dubay). On the back cover Nobel physics laureate John Feynman says, “You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity.” Imagine what it could mean to know the languages of beauty and simplicity more fluently. Or the language of film, chemistry,structural engineering, psychiatry, botany, or martial arts. I want to explore all of these different ways of knowing in my next book.
