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Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily
Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Denial as Practicing Atheism (with apologies to atheists) |
Meister Eckhart says that “God is the denial of denial.” |
If politicians are in profound denial about, say climate change, or the insurrection of January 6–that endangered the lives of congressional leaders and capitol police, and resulted in 6 deaths and over 140 injuries of policemen, and has up to now put 400 people in jail and has been called by certain politicians “ordinary political discourse”–does that then make them all practicing
atheists? | Testimony, one year ago, from an outraged policeman who was injured in the January 6th insurrection, as well as emotional comments by one of only two Republicans on the January 6 commission. ABC News on YouTube. |
I think it does. (But I do not mean to demean atheists. Many atheists have moral values they try to live up to like the rest of us and are not in denial about climate change or the seriousness of the January 6 insurrection.)
A “practicing atheist” is one whose actions belie any belief in a God of justice or compassion or
even love. A “practicing atheist” is a theist (or panentheist) who turns his/her back on justice and/or truth. Hypocrisy is compounded in such actions.
In some states, polling tells us that “crime” is the most important issue to some voters in the
upcoming election. Is it a crime to do nothing about climate change and vote against legislation that addresses climate change (and therefore record-making destructive hurricanes)? |
| Is it a crime to be in denial of climate change and then cry crocodile tears when hurricanes come, or wildfires come, like some
politicians do? Is denial of climate change not a crime against humanity? And a crime against creation and all other creatures as well? |
Surely matricide, the killing of our Mother Earth, is a crime, is it not? Is it a crime to vote against other states receiving aid for hurricanes (specifically New York and New Jersey) and then turn around and beg for billions of dollars of help from the United States government, like one Florida governor is doing–without, it seems, apologizing to those states for denying relief? Yet asking those states for relief now for his
state? |
So far, over 900 people have been charged with crimes for participating in the January 6 violent
insurrection and trying to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States government. All of them attest to being “inspired” by a former president. More than half of them are now in jail and others are undergoing trials. Do these crimes count as crimes? Then it would seem that the former president’s party is not a party against crime. |
Nor is it a party in favor of law enforcement, since over 200 law enforcement officers were attacked those days, and 140 incurred great physical harm, and all of them underwent mental and psychological harm. | Police officer Michael Fanone tells the committee investigating the 6 January insurrection that he thought he was going to be killed with his own gun. Guardian News on YouTube. |
Crime is not just someone breaking into one’s car or home, stealing and doing damage. Crime is also breaking into democracy to destroy it, and breaking into hearts and minds eager for truth to spread lies and falsehoods. The media and politicians are very capable of such mortal sins so deadly to killing the soul of a nation. |
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If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 224, xxiii-xxvii.
See Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ pp. 2, 144, 34, 148, 174, and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic--and Beyond, pp. 93ff on Matricide.
Banner image: Climate Crime Scene. Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation Are you speaking out and encouraging others to do so in this election time about crimes against humanity and creation and democracy itself? |
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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