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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Silence Invites in the God of Nothingness, continued The psalmist advises us to “Be still and learn that I am God.” |
Silence is a kind of nothingness, an emptiness, a zero—what Thomas Merton calls a “golden zero.” Often the encounter between humans and divinity is far beyond words. Experiences of awe render us silent—as it did for Job. So,
too, does choosing to be silent, which is a big part of any meditation practice whether introvert meditation or extrovert (art as meditation). Indeed, Eckhart says “nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.” For Eckhart silence is a requisite for
listening deeply to the “Word of God” that dwells within us all. | | Be still and know I am God. Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash |
Says Rumi:
Secretly we spoke,
That wise one and me. I said, Tell me the secrets of the world. He said, Sh…Let silence Tell you the secrets of the world. |
“Overlooking Kalalau Valley from Koke’e State Park, where Nana Veary held retreats to teach hoʻoponopono.” Image by syntheticaperture in Wikimedia Commons | Hawaiian elder Nana Veary says: Silence means no repetitions, no affirmations, no denials, only a conscious acknowledgement of God’s allness. In the silence, one is beyond words and thoughts. Brain researcher Andrew Newberg demonstrated that in deep states of meditation we go beyond thought and drop into an “experience of
boundlessness.” |
May states of grace be our regular fare and food. Taoism considers God a Form Without Form and speaks of the Tao as “seamless, unnamable, it returns to the realm of nothing.” There’s that Nothing name again for Divinity. |
Indeed, the Tao is a “Form that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception.” God is formless form that embraces all form, an image without image
that encircles all images, existing but beyond conceiving, a membrane in which all things live, move and have their being.
Eckhart echoes the same teaching when he says “God is a not-God, a not-mind, a not-person, a not-image.” Rather God is “a pure, clear One who is separate from all twoness.”
| The yin-yang symbol has its roots in Taoism. Image by Rafael Javier from Pixabay. |
How does one face or even image a pure clear One who is separate from all twoness? Silence is one such way. |
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Queries for Contemplation
What is a “Formless Form”? Does this understanding of Tao or Divinity free you up to let God be God and open you to more and possibly deeper understandings of
Divinity? Adapted from Matthew Fox, Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God, pp. 134f., 137.
Banner image: Silent foggy morn. Image
by Johny Goerend on Unsplash. |
Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and
Useful Names for God …Including the Unnameable God Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of
Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin where true spirituality begins: from experience.
“This book is timely, important and admirably brief; it is also open ended—there are always more names to come, and none can exhaust God’s nature.”
-Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, author of Science Set Free and The Presence of the
Past | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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field. See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE
Join Matthew Fox as he offers a new, 12-week advanced course on the Shift Network:
7 Mystics on Recovering the Sacred and
Forging a New Story for Humanity: Timeless Wisdom to Deepen, Heal & Inspire Your Life Journey. NOTE: There is a prerequisite: In order to take this 12-week advanced course, one must have taken any prior shift course with Matthew Fox (not just the 7-week 7
Mystics course). Tuesdays, August 16-November 1, 5:00pm-6:30pm PT (GMT/UTC-7). Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie virtual retreat, discussing One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. Thursday, August
18, 4:00-6:00pm PT. Learn more HERE.
Join Matthew Fox in a 6-week virtual course on “Mystics, Mysticism and Ourselves as Mystic-Prophets,” hosted by Creation Spirituality Communities. Wednesdays, 8/24, 8/31, 9/7, 9/14,
9/21, and 9/28, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Thursday, September 15, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality in Conversation |
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Host Sandie Sedbeer welcomes Matthew Fox in a discussion of Creation Spirituality: Fresh Perspectives and Approaches to the Most Vital Issues of Our Time on WHAT IS GOING OM. Navigate to the podcast page by clicking the image on the left. |
Announcing Matthew Fox's Newest Book!
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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an introduction by Charles Burack
“This collection of Fox’s most life-giving insights blesses the connection between caring for our Mother-the-Earth and lifting up marginalized voices, between waking up from the dream of separation and stepping up to mend the net of creation.”
—Mirabai Starr, author, God of Love and Wild Mercy
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