The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic
Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily
Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
The Italian Election and the Impermanence of Democracy |
This weekend, Italians elected their first fascist leader since Mussolini. |
Fittingly, Giorgia Meloni’s election happened in the centennial year of Mussolini’s triumphant march into Rome that marked the day of his takeover. It has been said that | Far-Right Nationalist Giorgia Meloni Elected As Italy’s First Female Prime Minister. NBC News |
Italy often leads the way in European politics (Hitler followed on Mussolini and admired him) and
that is not a happy signal. But it is a reminder of the tenuousness of democracy at this moment in history. The Buddhists talk about the impermanence of all things. They are right of course. All
things are impermanent. Things come and go. Evolution happens, everything evolves, some things last longer than others, but all things are impermanent. Democracy too? Is democracy showing visible signs of
impermanence in our time? |
Former US marine and CIA officer Elliot Ackerman tells GZERO Media‘s Ian Bremmer that the next big challenge will be how free nations of the world respond to the rise of authoritarian regimes. | There is the rise of authoritarianism in Hungry and Poland and Brazil and the recent White House occupant refusing to leave office gracefully and convincing millions that he did not lose an election. And
a |
political party declaring that what happened on January 6 was “legitimate political discourse” and denying that anything untoward happened (even though hundreds of Capitol Police were violently attacked and several
persons died). Susan Sontag defines fascism as “institutional violence.” Mussolini defied fascism as the marriage of government and corporations. Today’s tsunami of voting rights restrictions being passed in numerous states represent the
former and certain powerful media moguls are committed to the latter. There is a theocratic supreme court committing institutional violence toward women and their bodies and even the medical system in general, threatening
to put doctors in prison for heeding their clients’ needs. This same weekend a new book emerged in the US, called We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism. The author, Andy Campbell, relates the story of the Proud Boys, America’s current version of the Brown Shirts of Italy’s past. |
They are the ones whom Donald Trump urged to “stand back and stand by” in a presidential debate. Both Ann Coulter and Roger Stone praise them, Coulter naming them as “brawny, tattooed brutes.” Campbell explains that the Proud Boys have | Proud Boys march for the former occupant of the White House, Washington, DC, 112/12/2020. Photo by Elvert Barnes is licensed under CC BY-SA
2.0. |
proven that you can make it as a fascist gang of hooligans in this country, as long as you make the right friends. The Proud Boys founder, Gavin McInnes, 52, declared in Spring 2016 that “I want violence. I want punching in the face. I’m disappointed in Trump supporters for not punching enough.” The Proud Boys represent, says Campbell, “a full embrace of domestic extremist violence.” Surely the upcoming election is a test of the permanence or impermanence of American democracy. |
| 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, “Opus Dei,” in Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved, pp. 106-124. And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society. Banner Image: Giorgia Meloni speaking at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida. Photo by Hermann Tertsch and Victor Gonzalez on Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What are your thoughts about the impermanence of all things? Is that another way of talking about the Via Negativa and the practice of letting go? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic christianity. Matthew Fox
presents insights from his 12-year, up-close-and-personal battle with Ratzinger, tracing the historical roots of degradation in the Church and offering a new way to understand why Benedict XVI is now mired in crisis as Pope. Fox then outlines his vision for a new Catholicism-one that is not Vatican-based but truly universal, celebrating critical thinking, diversity, and justice. “This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive forces that threaten authentic Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope. | |
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 for the monthly online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Original Blessing. Thursday, October 20, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register
HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality. Thursday, November 17,
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.” |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
