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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Gandhi’s Wisdom on Social Cohesion, continued |
In yesterday’s DM we shared Mahatma Gandhi’s list of “seven social sins” that are “internal forces” that can crash society. Drawing on his wisdom, we might ask the following
questions: |
Is a big chunk of our current politics a politics without principle? (Other than the principle of hating others and showing them up? Or
riling up peoples’ anger and hatred? Or making common cause with the rich and powerful who give lots of dark money to particular causes?) | Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ cynically transporting roughly 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard raises questions of federal felony. MSNBC. |
How much of our
economy rewards inherited wealth more than work? Is that at the heart of the effort to create loopholes so that some of the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay no taxes? (And that has been recently corrected with a 15% tax on rich individuals and corporations. Not to pay taxes means certain individuals and corporations choose not to support building and maintenance of roads, highways, bridges, public transport, education, police and fire and first responders (it would seem that the recent Infrastructure bill did address some of these issues). |
Atlantic commentator David French speaks with
Mika Brzezinski on the rising danger from conspiracy theories and hatred
promulgated by far-right media.
MSNBC. | Does it often happen that we entertain commerce without morality in American culture? Consider radio, TV, and social media platforms that traffic lies and hatred and
division-making. Does pleasure without conscience constitute much of the advertising that fills our television sets 24/7? And magazines? And social
media? |
Does education actually include learning about value systems and value choices? Is education without educating for character endemic in a learning process that claims to be value
neutral? How does one teach the development of character? And especially in a pluralistic society? Does being ‘value-free’ not lead to accepting the status quo? Does science sometimes
ignore the consequences of its own inventions and thus create a science without humanity, a science that leaves humanity’s survival behind in its calculations? |
Is the
social media, born of new electronic advancements, an example of that—an invention that can do good things in connecting people but also do evil in connecting and promoting hostile, hating, self-hating people and organization and in spreading lies rather than truths? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Il., discusses the former White House tenant’s impact on the Republican Party and what is needed to save democracy. MSNBC |
One thinks of neo-Nazi groups and of crazy Q-anon fabrications that spread
on social media and make an impression on weak minds and souls. This includes the notion that President Biden did not win the last election. Big Lies make for Big Divisions. A democracy cannot survive without an effort to find and speak and share the truth. To be
continued. |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 183-374. Banner Image: “Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, Washington DC” by AlbinoFlea is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you address the questions raised here by Gandhi and applied to contemporary American society? How can we do so together and thus create community? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new
theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better
vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the new Physics | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE
Matthew Fox, Caroline Myss, and Andrew Harvey offer a 3-part series of solo online lectures on “The Power of Truth, Wisdom, Choice Part 2” through
the Sophia Institute in Charleston, SC. Wednesdays, September 21, 28, October 5, 3:00pm-4:30pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and Isa Gucciardi for a Teach-in on Liberation and Salvation: Healing Teachings in Buddhism & Christianity, a Convergence Hosted by Cameron
Trimble. Three sessions: September 30, 4-7pm PT; October 1, 9-12pm and 12:30-2:30pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Original Blessing. Thursday, October 20, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register
HERE. |
Creation Spirituality in Conversation |
| Join
scholars Matthew Fox and Thomas G. Hermans-Webster for Progressive Christianity's monthly “Things that Matter” discussion on eco-spirituality: “The Intersection of Faith and Climate Justice.” |
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