Origami As Prayer

Over the next few weeks CWM will be exploring a series of spiritual disciplines designed to help us contemplate and discern direction in our lives. This week we looked at the practice of origami as a means of stilling and opening our mind through repetitive manual action.

Through the repetitions of detailed and precise movements, we find at times that the chaos buzzing in our head stills in concentration and our mind is opened so that we find a quiet space to contemplate and seek the presence of God in our lives.

David Lister Grimsby has written an article on the connection between origami and the spiritual. Recalling the story of Sadako and the 1000 peace cranes, he reminds us of the prayerful action of origami. He writes:

"Our own folding can be an encouragement to meditation. Many folders have discovered this as they have folded multiple copies of identical modules for a modular creation or folded cranes as part of a thousand to be given to a sick person or to be sent to hang before the statue of Sadako in the Peace park at Hiroshima. As we fold, our fingers are occupied without require mental application and the repetition has the effect of liberating our minds. The folding acts like a mantra which frees our spirit for prayer and meditation. This is one of the most potent links between paperfolding and spirituality."

For more information about the practice of origami see the following websites:

www.paperfolding.com
Origami Club
Wikipedia - Origami
Simple Origami