The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Can the Webb Telescope Help to Awaken Humanity?
In yesterday’s DM we cited Thomas Aquinas who speaks of “getting drunk” on God’s house or the universe. This is a special way of talking about what the mystics call the Via Positiva, that
experience of the deep-down beauty of existence, of our planet, of being alive, of love of life in spite of all its demands and challenges. A springboard to wisdom since “awe is the beginning of wisdom” as Rabbi Heschel reminds us often.
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It is about generating a gratitude and reverence that emerge from awe and wonder that is well summarized in Meister Eckhart’s simple words: “If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘Thank you,’ that would suffice.”
Clearly, Thomas Aquinas is in every way a mystic and champion of the Via Positiva. He invites us to be the same. And it all begins with an astonishing and ecstatic experience that we call the universe. As he teaches, “the most excellent thing in the universe is not the human—it is the universe itself.” And we are all here to serve the
universe.
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This information, were it internalized, might stop all narcissists in their tracks.
The new news of the universe from Webb Telescope can surely assist in that process. Scientists say that “a new era of astronomy has begun” and that the Webb telescope “could revolutionize human understanding of the universe.”
Can it also revolutionize human understanding of ourselves? After all, we are the child of the universe and we are blessed as a species with a radical curiosity about our origins. Every human tribe has created its creation stories and for most of our existence, before human solipsisms took over in the modern era, we have built our ethics and rules for
human behavior and getting along, i.e., survival, around our stories of creation.
Thomas Berry tells us that recovering a sense of the sacred can only happen by immersing ourselves into our “new sacred story” of the universe.
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We’re getting our first glimpse of galaxies far, far away, as NASA’s new Webb telescope releases its first images from the deep universe. Inside Edition.
| We will recover our sense of wonder and our sense of the sacred only if we appreciate
the universe beyond ourselves as a revelatory experience of that numinous presence whence all things come into being. Indeed, the universe is the primary sacred reality. We become sacred by our participation in this more sublime dimension of the world about us.
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As an ancient meso-American teaching puts it: “To be human one must make room in one’s heart for the wonders of the universe.” Does the Webb Telescope and the discoveries that will follow assist us to make room in our hearts for the wonders of the universe? One hopes so.
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Queries for Contemplation
What do you learn from the ancient teaching that “to be human one must make room in one’s heart for the wonders of the universe”?
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 361.
And Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 9-15.
And Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, p. 3.
Banner Image: "Stargazing." Photo by Chris Leggat on Unsplash |
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr.; from Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart to Thomas Merton; from Father Bede Griffiths to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations.” — Adam Bucko, co-author of Occupy Spirituality.
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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
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The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“A gutsy, courageous book, one that confronts the terrible isolation in which men live with archetypal images that once nurtured, guided, and connected our ancestors and that still course within the depths of each of us.” –Dr James Hollis, author of What Matters Most
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Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE
Join Matthew Fox and special guest Caroline Myss for a 6-part Reflections Parallel course, “Beyond Patriarchy: Recovering the Divine Feminine and Sacred Masculine and
Why it Matters Today,” hosted by the Caroline Myss Educational Institute. July 11, 13, 18, 20, 25, 27 (Mondays & Wednesdays) 4:00pm-5:30pm PT (GMT/UTC-7) Register HERE.
Join Matthew Fox at the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Virtual Retreat with a discussion of The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times. Thursday, July
14, 4:00pm-6:00pm 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.
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Creation Spirituality in Conversation.
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Victor Fuhrman of Destination Unlimited on OMTimes interviews Matthew Fox on Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality. Navigate to the podcast page by clicking the image on the left.
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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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