The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
A Story of Healing Acedia and Depression Sans Pills 05/09/2023 |
Yesterday I responded to a letter from a psychologist who did not like my naming acedia and depression as a spiritual issue. The suggestion was that depression is best healed with a
pill. |
I say simply, “maybe sometimes, but not always.” If people find themselves living in a spirituality bereft and oppressive society, it may be the context itself that is rendering people depressed. In fact, depression may be a positive sign that they are not brain | |
dead or soulless but passionate about living fully in a milieu that is not. At such a time it can be very valuable to go to the mystics to learn what they have to say about Joy and Darkness, which is what we have been doing in our recent Daily Meditations. John of the Cross came up with the
term “dark night of the soul” though others certainly examined the concept long before his languaging—Hildegard of Bingen and Mechtild of Magdeburg and Julian of Norwich as starters. |
“It is in the negation of seeking God elsewhere that we become open to him within us.” A meditation on Meister Eckhart’s teachings on the Ground of the soul. Theodore Nottingham | I will tell you a story today and one tomorrow of profound healings that uplift the first chakra (where acedia is centered) that I have witnessed in teaching the mystics. Years ago in our ICCS program at Holy Names College, we had a woman student who was herself |
a therapist. In our class where we were studying my book, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, she told us this story. She had been abused by her father as a child and had spent many years
in therapy but that “reading Meister Eckhart was bringing her much deeper healing than therapy ever did.” Eckhart truly lifted her out of her deep depression. She has been using him in her practice ever since. |
While Eckhart preceded John of the Cross by 250 years, he was talking about the experience of “nothingness”—sometimes as a positive experience and sometimes as a negative one. By cushioning it between the Via Positiva and the Via Creativa (I derived the four paths
most | |
explicitly
from Meister Eckhart), he gives our suffering context and meaning and ways to see beyond it and through it. He teaches us deep letting go and letting be—including letting go of denial. Indeed, Carl Jung says he got the “key to the
unconscious” from Eckhart for this very reason. Maybe more Eckhart and fewer pills might go a long way in healing acedia. To be continued |
See Matthew Fox, “Education,” in Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writing on Creation Spirituality, pp.182-190, “Creation Mystics,” pp. 90-131, “Cosmology,” pp. 75-89. And Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, (2015 edition), pp. 327-350. And Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart and Fox, “Depth Psychology: Meister Eckhart Meets Carl Jung,”in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 117-138. Banner Image: “Meditation” Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay |
Queries for Contemplation
Have the mystics and wrestling with your own mystical calling assisted you in weathering depressions and dark nights of the soul? |
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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the
West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections. “The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~
Richard Rohr, OFM. | |
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the
author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self | |
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. | |
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our
Time While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues
between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart
really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The Physics of Angels – Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat.
Thursday, May 18, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The A.W.E. Project – Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, June 15, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Phil Goldberg of Spirit Matters: Conversations on Contemporary Spirituality interviews Matthew Fox on Opening to Original Blessing. To listen to their conversation, click HERE | |
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