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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Doxa, Moxa and Christmas, continued 12/27/2022 |
Two days ago we celebrated Christmas in our DM with a meditation on what I called Doxa and Moxa, which become simple and direct ways to talk of the Cosmic Christ and the prophetic and historical Jesus
respectively. |
Doxa is the word Glory in Greek, the basic language of the Christian Scriptures. It is one of the keys to the meaning of the mystical archetype of
the Cosmic Christ. Whenever we deal with the word glory in the Bible we are being alerted to the Divine Presence in the cosmos. Hildegard of Bingen teaches that “there is no creature that lacks a radiance” and Thomas Aquinas follows suit when he talks about the radiance of the Divine in all things. The Catholic monk and ecumenical pioneer Thomas Merton, friend to both the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hahn, had a mystical experience one day while crossing the street in | |
downtown Louisville at noon rush hour when he saw all these “strangers” as beaming light from within them. In
his journal the next day, he wrote, "How is it possible to tell everyone they are all walking around shining like the sun?” The way we tell them is through naming the Cosmic Christ. “We are all other Christs,” says Merton and
Dorothy Day. St. Paul says, “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives within me.” We are all carrying the doxa or glory of the Christ within us. We can also use the language of the Buddha nature
or Buddhahood or, in Judaism, Tselem meaning image of God. |
“Christ Breaks the Rifle.” Image by iconographer Kelly Latimore. Purchase HERE. | Merton does so when he says: We are other Christs…In us, the image of God, which is complete and entire in each individual soul, is also in all of us ‘the image of God.’ Moxa is a word I have invented from the word
moxie which, according to Webster’s dictionary, means courage and energy and pep. |
It summarizes the human person that Jesus was, what incarnation means—what becoming
flesh and Homo sapiens means–joining the caravan of flesh that began with the original fireball 13.8 billion years ago and morphed into every galaxy and planet, supernova and star in our universe of two trillion galaxies and that includes also our home, Earth, so abundant with multiple gifts of flesh we call elephants, lions, polar bears, rainforests, whales, sharks and so much more. All God’s creatures. All our relations. All sacred flesh. |
| 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 today's post on the website directly, click HERE.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, pp. 225-241. See Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 21-130. Banner
Image: The Divine embodied in all beings, in harmony: “Garden of Eden.” Detail of a painting by David Paladin. Published with permission. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you sometimes feel that you are walking around shining like the sun? And other creatures too? And other humans also? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality
Journey In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his essential teachings on mixing contemplation and action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart
profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey. “This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism Goodbye. | |
Sins of
the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society 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. In comparing
the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum
Theology: Spiritual Implications of the new Physics | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar 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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