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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Gandhi’s Wisdom on Sins that Rupture Social Cohesion, continued |
We ended yesterday’s meditation with the fifth and sixth of Gandhi’s “social sins,” that of educating without character building and science without
humanity. |
The latter includes inventions like the social media that can spread hatred and lies just as easily as love and truth. Martin Buber believes that humans are unique for our capacity to invent lies. Other species do not invent lies. | Issues of racism, police brutality, sexual abuse, indigenous experience: books banned from schools in 2021. Photo by pggw on Flickr. |
The lie is the specific evil which man has introduced into nature. All our deeds of
violence and our misdeeds [derive from our lies]. The lie is our very one invention, different in kind from every deceit that the animals can produce. When our speech compromises truth, society collapses because “the
basis of men’s common life has been removed. The lie has taken the place, as a form of life, of human truth.” |
As Republican Liz Cheney accepted her JFK Profile in Courage Award, she warned of the dangers America faces. MSNBC | Speech then breeds delusion in peoples’ hearts and illusions and falsifies the relation of soul to being. Duplicity or a “double heart” takes over. To walk one’s talk and not just talk our talk seems to be central to the survival of community. |
When truth goes out the door, so too does justice, as Thomas Aquinas
instructs us when he says, “the proper objects of the human heart are truth and justice.” An investment in lies is an investment in injustice. |
Lying is a distortion of our fifth chakras which are
meant to be birth canals for putting our wisdom and truth-finding into the world. For Gandhi, God is truth. Telling lies then is a form of atheism. In many religions, Truth and God are
synonyms. In Christianity, one “I am” saying is this: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The Bhagavad Gita declares that a world without truth is a world without God and in such a world, desire alone will
rule. Another danger Gandhi alerts us to is science without humanity. | Drawing of Gandhiji, Signed “God Is Truth” From Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 33. Published by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. Public Domain. |
Thomas Berry used to say that “the nuclear bomb has already gone off” in the world. Why? Because we have been creating so many chemicals over the last 50 years without asking the question of how they affect the quality of water or soil and the food supply that all life and living things depend on. |
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If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 321, 313-332.. And Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 101-108. And Matthew Fox, Naming the Unnameable: 89 wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God, pp. 58f. And Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus, Stations of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 117-122. Banner Image: The Unisphere, a 12-story stainless steel representation of the Earth designed by landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, and donated by the United States Steel Corporation, was the symbol for the 1964 World’s Fair, representing the theme of global interdependence. The world’s largest global
structure, it rises 140 feet and weighs 900,000 pounds, including its 200,000-pound base. Photo by Wally Gobetz on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation What follows from Martin Buber’s observation that lying is unique to the human species? Do you think it says anything about Thomas Aquinas’s observation that one human being can do more evil than all the other species put together? |
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 | |
Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
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 | |
Stations of the Cosmic
Christ This is a book of meditations on the Cosmic Christ, accompanying the images of 16 wonderful clay tablets by Javier Ullrrich Lemus and M.C. Richards. Together, these images and meditations go far beyond the traditional Stations of the Cross to inspire a spirit awakening and understanding of the cosmic Christ
Consciousness, Buddha consciousness, and consciousness of the image of God in all beings, so needed in our times.
“A divinely inspired book that must be read by every human being devoted to spiritual and global survival. It is cosmically brilliant.” — Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
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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