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Right Livelihood and Good Work
vs. Fox News 04/06/2023 |
In a meditation a week ago we considered how Fox News is opposed to the Buddhist teaching of “Right Speech” and the Christian teaching of Love of Neighbor and Love of Truth and how truth is necessary for building a society and
democracy. |
Fox News may also be an affront to Right Livelihood. The Buddha teaches that speech can be wrong and bad for the soul, and so too can be the way we make our living. | |
Here is how Thich Nhat Hanh puts it: To practice Right Livelihood, you have to find a way to earn your living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion. The way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or it can be a source of suffering for you and others….Our vocation can nourish our understanding and
compassion, or erode them. |
| These are wise and foundational teachings about good work. It is echoed in Christianity by Thomas Aquinas’s admonition to “always rejoice in the good work that you do.” The good work–not the bad work. The work of making every effort to find the truth and
spread |
that as opposed to settling for lies and falsehoods if you are a media organization and spreading that. The work that leads to compassion, not to more lies and insurrections and
violent movements to tear apart a society striving to be a democracy. Thich Nhat Hanh advises us to find work “without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion.” How can it be said that anyone is spreading love and compassion if
they are selling lies? Lies that result in violence. |
Even Murdoch, the head of Fox News, admitted in our previous DM on “Right Speech” that the lies led to the January 6
violence. And surely much that has followed since. His organization, his “livelihood” was a principle propagator of such lies. | “Jake Tapper fact-checks Fox News narrative on Jan. 6 attack,” CNN on YouTube |
Thich Nhat Hanh warns us that our work can be a “source of suffering” for
others. According to Murdoch himself, 25% of the population are suffering from lies and untruths that result in resentment and rage toward neighbors and truth. Thich Nhat Hanh warns us that our work can “erode” our understanding
and compassion. Fox News is involved in lots of eroding. And all workers there—including its sponsors—should heed Thich Nhat Hanh’s guidance, that we “’should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn
our living.” |
Queries for Contemplation
Is your livelihood a right
livelihood and a practice of good work that makes you rejoice in the good you are doing? Can others rejoice because of your good work?
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The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not
sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.” “Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox online as he offers a Worship Service Inspirational Message - “Otto Rank, and Pere Chenu: Two 'Real, Raw and Radiant' Guides Calling Us to Deep Freedom” for
Brentwood Inspired Living Center, Sunday, April 16, 10:00 am PT. Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “Creativity – Where the Divine and the Human Meet” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, April 20, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and Charles Burack in an online conversation on “The Essential Writings On Creation Spirituality” hosted by The Aquarian Minyan. Thursday, April
27, 6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Karen Tate interviews Matthew on his latest book Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality to discuss religious vs. spiritual, the nature of evil and angels, compassion vs pity, and wisdom vs knowledge. On Voices of the Sacred Feminine with Karen Tate. Listen HERE. | |
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