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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Apophatic Divinity, continued 12/22/2022 |
In this dark season of the year that is also Advent that leads into Christmas in the Christian calendar, we are meditating on the Apophatic Divinity, the God of Darkness, the Godhead. Divinity as Mystery in contrast to Divinity
as Light or the Cataphatic divinity. |
Eckhart talks about God therefore as the Ineffable One, the “One Without a Name Who Will Never Be Given a Name.” He calls God the "Unnameable" Indeed, he says God is “without a name and is the denial of all | |
names and has never been given a name—a truly hidden
God.” Such a teaching allows us all to relax and to cease projecting and certainly to cease going to war against one another “in the name” of whatever God we do or do not worship. Atheists too can get stuck and overly attached to the name “God.” Recently I heard this joke: “What I most dislike about atheists is that they are so busy talking about god all the time.” |
| Who is this, what is this, that is without a name and whom we can never name? This “It” must be quite amazing because we humans are great at naming everything and anything that comes our way—but we need to cease naming and projecting when it comes to Divinity. |
God is the experience of God: The experience of Awe and Wonder and Gratitude that delight the heart; of Silence; of Grief and Emptiness to which we surrender. The experience of Creativity and Flow; the experience of Compassion and of Justice making, Celebration and Healing. How eager we sometimes are (or our institutions are) to seize and to hold and to name and to categorize and to box up into concepts and then rules and then doctrines and then dogmas all we think God is. |
But Whoa! Stop! This “God” thing does not yield to such human control compulsions. “God” is the one without a name who will never be given a name. Just being.
And non-being. And silence. And…. | |
Words fail us in the face of mystery, as Thich Naht Hanh reminds us, “we know the Holy Spirit as energy and not as notions and words.” This is why we emerge from our silence to utter our deepest feelings and experiences by way of art and music and dance and to silence in response to the Ineffable One. And, hopefully, the art of living—which includes
resisting. |
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Adapted from Matthew Fox, Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God, pp. 128f. And Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, pp. 42-44. And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce
Wisdom for Hard Times. Banner Image: Engraving of Otto van Veen (1660), who negatively describes God as Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit (Vulgate), “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you agree with Thich Naht Hanh that we know the Holy Spirit as energy and not as notions or words? What follows from that? Do you experience God at times as “unnameable”? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful
Names for God …Including the Unnameable God Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew
Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin where true spirituality begins: from experience. “This book is timely, important and admirably brief; it is also open ended—there are always more names to come, and none can exhaust God’s
nature.” -Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, author of Science Set Free and The Presence of the Past | |
Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A
Centering Book A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher
who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died. “These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly. | |
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard
Times A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action. Foreword by Ilia Delio. “What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Robert Holden and Matthew Fox for A WINTER OF IMAGINATION – a mystical 75-minute
webinar that reveals the spiritual invitation and deeper meaning of Advent, the Solstice, and Christmas time.12/22 ("Soul of Christmas"), 12 pm PT/3 pm ET/8 pm UK. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as the Center for Contemporary Mysticism hosts him in a Conversation on “Creation Spirituality: Birthing a New World.” Sunday, January 8, 2023, 11 am PT
(UTC/GMT-7). 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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