The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
Hiroshima, 2022: Humanity’s Capacity for Rendering Nothingness We have been meditating on some of the many meanings of Nothingness. Today, August 6, 2022, is the 77th anniversary of the nothingness rendered by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in
1945. A stark reminder of human’s capacity to participate in, provoke and even effect nothingness of the most stark kind. |
After such events, we are eager to hear the words, ‘never again, never
again.’ We want to believe that we can learn from our worst instincts and worst trials. Of course Hiroshima was only part of the utter destruction waged in WWII on countries in Europe, Asia and around the world, a
destruction being revisited in our own day, though on a limited scale so far, in Ukraine. |
Aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, with writing of pilot Paul Tibbets. Wikimedia Commons.
|
A déjà vu is unfolding and suffering is being rendered there and far beyond the borders of Ukraine to countries in Africa and beyond who are feeling the real effects of famine; and many countries in Europe bracing and sacrificing for the real effects of loss of oil and gas supplies come the cold winter. |
As a cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain sets sail from Odesa for the first time since Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian farmers navigate the ongoing assault, lost sales, and crippling
inflation. PBS NewsHour | To deliver nothingness as was done to Hiroshima, to render a city into a no-city in an instant–that is a new level of human capacity for rendering nothingness onto others. Carl Jung put it this way: |
Humanity is involved in a new responsibility. He can
no longer wriggle out of it on the plea of his littleness and nothingness, for the dark God has slipped the atom bomb and chemical weapons into his hands and given him the power to empty out the apocalyptic vials of wrath on his fellow creatures. Since he has been granted an almost godlike power, he can no longer remain blind and unconscious. He must know something of God’s nature and of metaphysical processes if he is to understand himself…and the divine. A parallel to Hiroshima, what we might call the Hiroshima of the 21st century, is our dark capacity for making climate change happen–climate change is a kind of atomic bomb that is circumventing the globe from the rainforests of Brazil to the cities of Europe this
summer. From the glaciers of Antarctica to the ice packs in Greenland, from the mountain tops of the Himalayas to those of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, from the wildfires in New Mexico and California to the flooded communities of Kentucky. |
Thomas Berry used to say that the nuclear bomb has already gone off—that is to say the chemicals that humans have been pouring into Mother Earth without proper testing and that have so much to do with rising rates of cancer and other diseases. | Climate change and warming seas threaten the Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica, one of the largest glaciers on the continent. Overcast |
Climate Change is another of the apocalyptic vials of
wrath humans drop on their fellow creatures. When will we ever learn? |
| 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.
|
Queries for Contemplation
Is humanity moving beyond what Jung calls our “blindness and unconsciousness”? Are we coming to know “something of God’s nature and metaphysical processes” and understanding ourselves
more fully? Is it happening rapidly enough? See Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, p. 138. Banner Image: Pyrocumulus cloud over the firestorm that followed the dropping of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Wikimedia
Commons. |
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an
earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author or The
Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. | |
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 | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. See Matthew Fox's full calendar 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 |
|
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!
|
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
| |
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
|
|
|
|
