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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On Florida's Endangerment |
The appalling destruction of Hurricane Ian on Florida will not, alas, be an isolated event. There will be more such hurricanes in the near future. That is what global warming and climate change promise. (Just this
morning there was an article in the news about how a town of 16,000 people in the heart of the agricultural part of the state of California will have not water by the end of this year.*) |
I alluded in a previous DM to a weekend
conference on climate change I attended in northern Florida a few years ago, where indigenous leaders and scientists and myself, as a creation-centered spiritual theologian, presented. (To read previous DM, click HERE.)
On the opening night a scientist presented slides of what Florida looks like today and then what it will look like in 10 years; in 20 years; in 30 years. | |
The ten year date from today had the bottom fourth of Florida chopped away; the 20 year date had another 25% of what was left of Florida chopped out; and the third, had 25% more cut away. What was left
standing was about 25% of today’s Florida. It was stunning. If was an eye-opener. And it was scientifically factual. The Insurance industry in Florida already knows this. Today, only 18% of Floridians can afford
flood insurance. What about the politicians? Should they not be as well informed as insurance companies? I am speaking specifically of Governor Desantis and Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Scott. They have been peddling
denial about climate change for years (Scott as the previous governor). Should they not be held responsible for their denials in upcoming elections? |
Surface temperature changes in last 50 years. By NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. Wikimedia
Commons. | Denial is a kind of lie. Thomas Aquinas, a great mind and soul who introduced the term “common good” into Western jurisprudence, says this about denial: That to choose to be ignorant of an important truth is a “mortal
sin”, i.e. a deadly virus that will kill community and kill the common good. |
Clearly the
endangerment of the state of Florida is an endangerment deriving from politicians as well as from the ire of Ina and Mother Nature. As waters warm, hurricanes will be more frequent and more fierce and more deadly. And it is folly to talk about “we will rebuild” when the fact is that more hurricanes are on the way and no trillions of dollars will be found from the nation at large or the state of Florida to do all that rebuilding. Especially when Insurance
companies have already fled the scene. |
There are many lessons to be learned from Hurricane Ian and one
has to do will electing truth-telling leaders. |
| 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 What are your responses when hearing about the sad future of the state of Florida? Can these realities finally awaken people, their governments and their favorite media in denial about climate change? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society In Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh, 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. Using today’s science to
rediscover the sacred marriage of spirit and flesh, Fox sets forth a visionary but practical mysticism that lays out a blueprint for social transformation. In this book, Matthew Fox dissects the roots of our culture's spiritual malaise and offers "medicine" for our society's deep spiritual "wounds." He shows how, contrary to mainstream church teachings, flesh is the grounding of spirit, and how spirit and flesh are entwined with each other in a felicitous and spiritually nourishing bond. He
outlines a Theology of Spirit, an approach to the fusing of spirit and flesh which has been underdeveloped in Western thought. His cosmology stresses the need for diversity, the revelatory power of Nature, and the imperative of cooperation. Fox draws together the wisdom of East and West on the subject of human destructiveness by taking Thomas Aquinas's definition of sin as "misdirected love" and ushering us through parallels between the Eastern teachings of the seven chakras and the
Western teachings of the seven capital sins. | |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation
Spirituality
In this book Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish
thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology). Here Fox lays out the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
"Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever
these may have originated."
--Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story | |
Order of the Sacred Earth:
An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flod - as species are going extinct every day and
national and global economies totter - the planet doesn't need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.” Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by
21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active
Hope. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar 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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