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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Bucko & Fox on Practicing
Spiritual Democracy |
Adam Bucko and I conclude our book on Occupy Spirituality with a chapter entitled “Occupy Generation and the Practice of Spiritual Democracy.” I excerpt a portion
below… |
In discussing the exciting topic of spiritual democracy, we want to give credit to a spiritual ancestor, Walt Whitman. Whitman used this phrase on many occasions, as when he
said: I say to you that all forms of religion, without excepting one, any age, any land, are but mediums, temporary yet necessary, fitted to the lower mass-ranges of perception of the race—part of its infant school—and that the developed
soul passes through one or all of them, to the clear homogeneous | “Buddha and Jesus as Brothers.” Icon by Brother Richard Joseph, at the Chapel of the Little Way, McGregor, South Africa. |
atmosphere above them. There all meet—previous distinctions are lost—Jew meets Hindu, and Persian, Greek, and Asiatic, and European and American are joined—and any one religion is just as good as another. This is a very important quote, because essentially it describes the climate that many young people find themselves in today. It’s this climate that Brother Wayne Teasedale called our “interspiritual age,” or what Matthew has called “deep ecumenism.” |
Joan Borysenko and Rabbi Rami Shapiro speak about interspirituality and the legacy of Brother Wayne Teasdale.
A Holy Rascals
video by Cathy Zheutlin | More and more people (and especially the young) are realizing that essentially, while they drink from traditions or a specific tradition, in the end the teaching–even though sometimes it comes through the tradition–is really about going beyond the
tradition |
itself, going into that space that is beyond all religions. The late Catholic monk Thomas Merton talked about the need to …discover an older unity. My dear brothers
and sisters, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. So what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are. When Adam was growing up in Poland felt he was born
into a specific tradition, but now he knows that he has been nurtured by a variety of traditions with mentors from several different traditions. |
Even though I tend to identify as a Christian, I realize that most
of my teachings actually come from life directly, and then I relate it to Christianity because this way it gives me context. But the transmission itself comes from life, so to speak. | “Let Your Heartbreak Guide You” The Rev. Adam Bucko shares the experiences and message at the heart of his latest book. Interior Mythos Journeys |
This seems to parallel nicely
Matthew’s definition of prayer as a radical response to Life. Prayer is a radical, that is to say, root response to Life, the good in it and the suffering in it. A Yes to Life and a No to forces, within and without, that
want to kill it. The mystic in us speaks Yes. The prophet in us says: No. These constitute our human roots, our Yes and our No. |
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Adapted from Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation, pp. 207f. See also Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life, pp. 60-116, 154. See also Adam Bucko, Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2022) Banner Image: Communal altar, Occupy Wall Street November 5 2011, Zuccotti Park. Photo by David Shankbone on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you experience prayer as a root or radical response to Life, your Yes and your No? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation Authors Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox encourage us to use our talents in service of compassion and justice and to move beyond our broken systems–economic, political, educational, and religious–discovering a spirituality that not only helps us to get along, but also encourages us to reevaluate our traditions, transforming them and in the process building a more sacred and just world. Incorporating the words of young activist leaders culled from interviews and surveys, the
book provides a framework that is deliberately interfaith and speaks to our profound yearning for a life with spiritual purpose and for a better world. “Occupy Spirituality is a powerful, inspiring, and vital call to embodied awareness and enlightened actions.” –—Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist and author of The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods | |
Prayer: A Radical Response to
Life How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the
struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since
Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he leads a new course hosted by The Shift Network: Answer the Call for an Uncommon Life Through the Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard. New 16-module video training with two live Q&A events starts Monday,
November 28, 12:00 PM PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations. Thursday, December 15,
4:00pm-6:00pm PT Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
In a podcast episode with the Earth and Spirit Center, Matthew Fox reflects on how creation-centered spirituality, and the marriage of the divine feminine and sacred masculine, can help us respond with hope
to the troubles of our apocalyptic times. Listen HERE. | |
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