The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic
Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily
Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
The Panentheistic Pleasure of Repose |
We are considering with Meister Eckhart the deeper meaning of winter, Advent and entering the darkness of the season and the darkness or depths of our souls. Eckhart is explaining how the soul enters God and God enters the
soul, with the result being peace and repose. |
In telling us how the soul “enters God,” he is surely naming a “panentheistic repose,” panentheism being about how
God is in us and we are in God. He continues: After knowledge has conducted the soul to God the highest power comes forward—this is love—and penetrates God and leads the soul with knowledge and with all its other powers | “Communion” Photo by 3MotionalStudio, Pexels |
into God, and is united with God. Love does the
work. Love is in us and we are in love. God is love after all. God “loves himself in all creatures, she is seeking also her own repose in them.” The divine nature itself is shared in
creatures. It follows that the soul is there submerged in God and baptized in the divine nature. It receives there a divine life and takes on the divine order so that it is ordered according to
God. We become divine in a way and Divinity becomes us. Grace and the Holy Spirit, he says, “shape the soul according to God.” All creatures experience this divine repose, as Eckhart sees it. |
| All creatures seek repose from their efforts, whether they know it or not. They prove this through their deeds. A stone will never be deprived of its drive to fall constantly to the earth so long as it is not right on the earth. Some creatures rise instead of fall, however, such as fire. Eckhart is saying that gravity is a kind of universal repose in nature and that all creatures
participate in the divine repose. Even the law of gravity is a law of pleasure and repose. Pleasure is a divine |
likeness in all things. “People can never feel joy or pleasure in any
creature if God’s likeness is not with it.” And God’s likeness is repose. Fire acts in the same way, it strives to rise, and every creature seeks its own place according to its nature. In this they reveal
similarity with the divine repose that God has allotted to all creatures. He ends his sermon with this prayer: “May God help us to seek the divine similarity of divine repose and to find it in
God! Amen.” |
| 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. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, pp. 382f, 385f. Also see Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells, p. 154ff. Banner
Image: Bonfire at night. Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation Are there times when you experience your soul being shaped according to God by grace and the Holy Spirit? What follows from that? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
Matthew Fox’s comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart’s sermons is a meeting of true prophets across centuries, resulting in a spirituality for the new millennium. The holiness of creation, the divine life in each person and the divine power of our creativity, our call to do justice and practice compassion–these are among Eckhart’s
themes, brilliantly interpreted and explained for today’s reader. “The most important book on mysticism in 500 years.” — Madonna Kolbenschlag, author of Kissing Sleeping Beauty Goodbye. | |
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from
Global Faiths Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual
context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each. “Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray,
you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
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. | |
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
|
|
|
|
