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The Thirst For Holiness and Joy
and Combating Evil 05/16/2023 |
For several weeks we have been dealing with the theme of Holiness and how Joy, in a time of cynicism and despair like ours, is one sign of holiness.
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The theme of Holiness arose because we were meditating on Evil and Rabbi Heschel, as we saw in a previous DM, offered this advice about combating Evil: The Biblical answer to evil is not the good but the holy. It is an attempt to raise | Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his own words: “He loved, he laughed, he cried.” A mini-documentary on South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prelate and his teaching on the key to
joy. Guardian News |
humanity
to a higher level of existence, where humans are not alone when confronted with evil. Living in ‘the light of the face of God’ bestows upon humans a power of love that enables one to overcome the powers of evil. It seems
that digging deep for joy in the midst of darkness is indeed “living in the light of the face of God” and hopefully does indeed empower us to overcome powers of evil and remain in the fight without totally burning out. |
Susannah Heschel, James Lawson and Andrew Young discuss the relationship between Rabbi Heschel and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Excerpt from Steve Brand‘s documentary on Heschel, “Praying With My Legs” | So we continue our meditations on Holiness and once again invoke Heschel who proposes that “holiness is the most precious word in religion.” Of course, what holiness means may vary in different cultural and historical times–evolution and history carry their own demands and call us to new depths of response. |
Frederick Turner, author of the amazing book Beyond Geography, which tells the story of America from the point of view of the indigenous peoples, offers this observation about holiness or the lack thereof in contemporary culture: Twentieth century
culture is full of an angst, an unsatisfied and inexplicable yearning, which we can now identify as a thirst for things like glory, sanctity, conscience, and heroism which were forbidden to us by the doctrines of existentialism. |
We have repressed greatness, and in its place we suffer great longing. In place of stories about holiness, we have substituted drugs. As the doctrines of materialism triumphed first among intellectuals, then among the population at large, so did the use of opium, cocaine, mescalin, and cannabis. But drugs cannot do our transcendence for us—they “destroy the tension and the hunger and thus process of transformation.”* | |
Much of the quest for drugs is to numb pain. But how much of the quest for drugs is a quest for transcendence and therefore holiness? To be continued. |
*Frederick Turner, “Escape from Modernism,” Sacred Interconnections, ed. David Griffith (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1990), p. 157. Adapted from Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest,
pp. 304ff. Banner Image: "Sunset celebration." Photo by Levi Guzman on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation
Do you think there is a kind
of “yearning for holiness” that culture has repressed and that humanity wants to grow and expand and serve? And that “’holiness’ is the most precious word in religion”? |
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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 | |
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. |
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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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