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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Spiritual Lessons Animals Teach Us |
Today is St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day so it seems fitting to continue our meditations on spirituality and animals. I wrote this list of spiritual lessons animals teach us over 40 years ago for my book on Compassion, but I
don’t think they have grown stale. Spirituality does not readily go out of date. |
Francis’ feast day is often celebrated by a “Blessing of animals” when people are invited to bring their pets to
church for a blessing. Ministers have told me that very often more people come to church on that day than any other day in the year! I once attended such an event at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in New York City (Thomas Berry preached) and the array of animals that paraded with their keepers down the aisle was memorable—ranging | A pit bull enjoys being sprinkled with holy water at the Blessing of the Animals, Siena College, 2009. Wikimedia Commons. |
from snakes to hawks to hamsters—and even an elephant (who was not living in someone’s apartment however). What are some spiritual lessons animals teach us? That it is good to be. And good to be an animal. Some of the happiest creatures I know are animals and they do not hesitate to demonstrate their joy at living. Ecstasy without guilt. Animals can truly let go and let be and even celebrate without guilt feelings as “wasted time” or at letting their masks down. Indeed, they instruct us in realizing that intensity of living is more important than duration. |
Woman Gives Toys to a Wild Magpie — and He Invites His Friends Over to Play. The Dodo | Play is an adult thing to do and needs no justification. In his study Of Wolves and Men, Barry Lopez tells the story of observing a wolf spend over an hour playing with a piece of dry caribou hide, tossing it in the air as we do frisbees. He saw |
wolves chase ducks amidst splashing of wings and water—all in fun. My dog once caught a squirrel—not to eat it—but to play with it. Though the squirrel was quite traumatized by my dog’s invitation, he nevertheless went away completely unharmed. Non-verbal
communication. Animals are experts at the non-verbal—their language is mime, tone of voice and dance. And a truthful language it can be, also. Max Scheler comments on the meaning of a dog expressing “its joy by barking and wagging its tail, or a bird by twittering.” We have here ...a universal grammar, valid for all languages of expression, and the ultimate basis of understanding for all forms of mime and pantomime among living creatures. To be continued |
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If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion, pp. 166-167.
Banner Image: Stained glass image of St. Francis of Assisi. Photo by Jim McIntosh on Wikimedia
Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What are your experiences with learning spirituality from animals? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with
Social Justice In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the
future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity. “Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register | |
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.” |
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